


Julie and the Cursed Ruins

by DChan87



Series: Pōmaikaʻi Adventures [1]
Category: Original Work, Tarzan - All Media Types, Tarzan - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Antichrist, Battle, Battle Couple, Curses, Demonic Possession, Established Relationship, F/M, Fantasy, Feral Behavior, Gen, Girl Saves Boy, Islands, Jungle Boy, Jungle Girl, Poachers, Primitive Culture, Public Nudity, Rainforests, Reconstruction, Ruins, Tribal Society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-01 16:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4027444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DChan87/pseuds/DChan87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When he was younger, Karza the Jungle Dude came across some ruins that turned out to be cursed. Five years later, those same ruins come back to haunt him and his mate Julie as they fight to protect their island home. A throwback to and a reconstruction of old jungle adventures, only without problematic elements.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

The legends of superstitious tribal peoples can usually be dismissed as just that—mere superstition. But sometimes, there’s a reason these superstitions exist, and it is best not to push your luck.  
  
The island where our story takes place is like no other. Well, all islands are unique in their own way, but that’s not the point. If there’s one place where weird stuff right out of a 1940s pulp fiction or even a high-brow Tarzan novel can take place is here. No one knows where it is, and no one really knows it exists, save for the people who live here and only a small few outsiders. Eventually, the outside world will know of this place.  
  
But not right now.  
  
The island sits somewhere in the Pacific, protected by some kind of shield that renders it invisible to the outside world; neither satellites, nor aerial photos can detect it. In short, the only way to find it is to either find it or stumble across it. That’s it. It’s literally a lost island in the middle of nowhere.  
  
The only outsider to find it and live on it is a young man from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He had been on a cruise with his family when the ship got caught in a typhoon. The boy, only 16 at the time, was thrown overboard and the ship sank, taking his family with it. By some stroke of luck, he grabbed onto a floating suitcase and let the current take him to the nearest island.  
  
There, he was discovered washed up on the beach by the native Teo Tribe, a member of the Polynesian ethnic family.  
  
Two years later, the boy, who ended up sojourning into the jungle, was well on his way to becoming a jungle hero in the vein of the legendary Tarzan.  
  
The boy’s birth name had been cast aside in favor of a new one, befitting his new life: Karza.  
  
The boy learned to survive in the jungle from his adopted Teo family; how to hunt, how to find fresh, clean water, keep himself clean, make shelter, etc. He’d learned enough to take his chances in the wild, rejecting his human clothes for a Tarzan loincloth, but kept his connections to civilization with a digital watch and some books that were in the suitcase that saved his life.  
  
Karza prowled through the trees. He slipped on occasion, but it’s understandable that he wouldn’t be fully accustomed to the jungle just yet. Give it time, and he’ll be swinging and brawling like Tarzan. For now, he was lucky he wasn’t hitting every single tree like George. Didn’t mean he wasn’t well on his way, in fact, he’d already given up on being found and decided it was best to survive on this island and become the best jungle dude he could be. There was no sense in waiting for someone to come for him.  
  
The wild boy stopped at a branch. Some of his long, unkempt brown hair got in his eyes, but he pulled it out.  
  
The heat and humidity of the jungle required him to wear this loincloth, and swinging around had toned his body. He wasn’t going to become a big beefcake like way too many images of Tarzan, but more like a gymnast or a swimmer—athletic.  
  
To go with that brown hair, the young wild dude had piercing brown eyes, which scanned the jungle intently. His day was made up of behaving like an animal—eat, sleep, drink. While you might think this is ridiculous, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. And Karza had gotten used to it.  
  
The jungle dude crouched on one of the branches. His skin tone was a light bronze by now, mostly due to being out in the sun a lot, although the tree cover did a heck of a job providing awesome shade, even in the heat and humidity. There was also a bit of First Nations heritage that contributed to this, but this does not imply that First Nations people are savages. The author hates that stereotype, along with the “magical” Native American, hence the creation of a modern-day Native character in another work.  
  
Anyway, he moved like an ape, which, surprisingly, were native to the island. Despite the fact that many Pacific islands do not have native simian populations, this island did. This is just another way the place is more unique than you might think.  
  
Sorry for the digressions, by the way.  
  
He jumped from tree to tree, occasionally slipping, but his reflexes were already sharp enough to catch the branch. The teen jungle hero sighed and kept moving.  
  
Then he heard something; he’d never heard it before during his time on the island. Curious, he jumped down from the branches, towards the foot of the great tree before landing gracefully. He followed the sound through the brush, occasionally brushing off bugs that had landed on his skin. To his relief, Malaria was not an issue.  
  
He emerged from the brush to find himself at the entrance of some stone ruins. The 18-year-old scratched his head while examining these ruins. He could hear the sounds of something crying from inside them. His human curiosity, which will never go away, itched like a mosquito bite. His new primal instincts, which he was working on, were telling him to turn and run as soon as possible, because this just did not look good.  
  
Well, there’s a reason the phrase “we’re only human” exists.  
  
Karza strode towards the entrance of the ruins. Small towers that resembled guard towers reached for the sky on the edge, but there were no taller structures. It was mostly small structures kind of like houses and small shops. Whatever this was, it was a small city in the middle of the jungle.  
  
Now Karza knew it wasn’t just the Teo Tribe that lived on the island. In fact, there were the Paea and Pele tribes, both of which lived on different parts of the island. He also knew that they were not unfamiliar with stone work, they just didn’t use it. It was mostly used for weapons, since they didn’t have the tools to mine big rocks to carve into whatever the hell this was.  
  
As he stepped foot on the stone steps, his bare foot feeling the cool touch of the stone, he heard a roar. He grabbed his knife and looked around for the source of the roar.  
  
Then he realized the roar is what he had heard before. And this is before he blacked out.  
  
“Karza? Karza? Wake up! Karzaa!”  
  
He didn’t know how long he had been out for, but when he came to, he found several Teo warriors and their chief, Manti, standing over him. The medicine man Kame examined him, including his head. Karza could not feel anything, and judging by Kame’s sigh of relief, it wasn’t bad. “He’ll be alright,” said Kame.  
  
“What happened?” he asked.  
  
“We found you here near the entrance to the village,” said Manti.  
  
“How did I…” Karza squeaked.  
  
“I do not know,” said Manti. “Do you know what happened?”  
  
“There was this stone ruin,” he said. “And I—”  
  
“Karza, listen to me,” said Manti. “Whatever you do, do NOT go anywhere near those ruins again, do you understand me?” His voice still held fear, but was firm and tipped with subtle anger.  
  
The Jungle Dude was confused, but he nodded. “But why?”  
  
“That place is cursed,” said Manti. “No one must ever go there.”  
  
Though he was confused, Karza nodded. He wouldn’t find out why until much later.  
  
And that’s where our story truly begins.


	2. Chapter 1

_Five years later,_  
  
Karza the Jungle Dude angrily watched the poachers from the trees.  
  
The island’s location  _was_  supposed to be a secret, but obviously  _someone_ , he didn’t know who, had blabbed to someone on the outside, and now the island was going to pay the price. There were many flora and fauna on the island that would be worth a lot of money on the black market, either as pets or as skins. He was determined NOT to let that happen.  
  
They came armed with guns and other weapons, ready to find whatever they could. They came from all corners of the globe, as poaching is sadly a lucrative profession that draws on the scum of the world. It’s better to see people of diverse backgrounds working together to help improve our world, and not to blight it. It’s a sad, sad, irony.  
  
Some of the poachers looked towards the tree. Karza retreated back into the brush and the poachers shrugged and moved on.  
  
In the years since he’d came to the island, Karza had grown from a wannabe jungle kid into a fully-realized jungle hero that Tarzan could be proud of. And not just Tarzan, but the Teo were, as well. The boy they’d adopted had found his calling in life; to live in the wild, protect and serve it, and return to nature like humans once lived.  
  
However, somethings didn’t really change.  
  
He was, after all, built like a gymnast or swimmer, not a bodybuilder like so many inaccurate pictures of Tarzan. And he wasn’t that big to begin with! Though Bruce Lee, CM Punk and Manny Pacquiao are all pretty small, so having a big mass of muscles like  _AHHH-NUUULLLD_  or Hulk Hogan is utterly meaningless, especially if you have skills.  
  
Obviously, he had not only learned how to survive, but he thrived in the wild. He subsisted on what the jungle provided, as well as Teo Tribe meals on occasion. He was like an adopted son to the tribe, not a god (which is probably what you were expecting) and of course they would be happy to feed him the finest meats and vegetables.  
  
He wondered if the poachers were the only ones who knew about the island. If they were, he could just capture them and bring them to the Teo for a trial. Better to deal with them than to let them go and tell people where they are. He stroked his smooth chin, his brown eyes wandered around the area. They weren’t going anywhere and it didn’t look like they were going anywhere for some time. He had plenty of patience that he developed living in the wild. He could wait.  
  
As mentioned earlier, the jungle boy was a jungle man now. He was built like a gymnast/swimmer, but he wasn’t exactly the Nietzschean ideal Ubermensch. The Ubermensch is actually someone who doesn’t care for common morality, would prefer to be his own God, and spreads this morality to those around him. Besides, ol’ Freddie hated the Nazis, so it’s not like Karza’s some nazi wet dream, which he isn’t by the way.  
  
The boy known as Kyle S. Anderson was gone, replaced by Karza of the Jungle; culturally Teo, he worships the gods of his adopted tribe, and has fully acclimated to living in the jungle. His brown hair was shoulder-length and unkempt, his skin was still tanned and he wore his loincloth, a symbol of his rejection of modern civilization.  
  
And he also had a mate; a girlfriend.  
  
He heard a bowstring being pulled back next to him. A young woman was aiming her arrow at the poachers. Karza reached out to gently grab her arm. She wasn’t happy about this, but he gave her a stern look.  
  
“Relax, Julie,” he said.  
  
Julie scoffed. “Whatever,” she said, loosening the bowstring.  
  
She was Julie Vidic, a young, very intelligent and very beautiful woman from Southern California. Like him, she was 23 years old. And like him, she was a transplant. Although, her situation was a bit different. Mainly, she didn’t come here by accident.  
  
She came as part of a scientific expedition right after graduating college at the University of California-Los Angeles. The expedition had gotten the coordinates of the island, and in an attempt to beat the poachers, universities from around the Pacific Rim agreed to send staff members, as well as graduate interns to the island to study it. Julie heard about this and jumped at the opportunity.  
  
One incident of losing the group on a trek and a rescue by Karza later, her destiny was chosen. She fell in love with both him and the jungle island, now given the codename “Greystoke”, after you-know-who, deciding to stay and become a jungle girl much like Jane Porter/Parker, or Shanna the She-Devil.  
  
Of course, she also had a bit more of a sense of humor about the whole situation, often making cracks about her attire, her lifestyle and how her degree had turned into “A degree to become a jungle girl”, among other things. Now Karza wasn’t annoyed by this, in fact, he loved her in part because of her sense of humor and sarcasm. It made things far more interesting.  
  
“Look at those bastards,” she said. “I want to wring their fucking necks.” Didn’t mean the young spitfire could get a little… hasty.  
  
“NO,” he said firmly. “We have to wait.”  
  
She had taken a bit to being a jungle girl with gusto, to say the least. She did have a background that involved martial arts, as well as an uncle who often took her camping and her father was a big fan of Tarzan, so it’s not too surprising that not only did she embrace the whole idea, but she got used to it pretty quickly, and it almost came naturally to her.  
  
“I want to get them NOW,” she stage-whispered.  
  
“I hate it when you’re impatient,” he said.  
  
Julie’s brown eyes looked over at him and narrowed. He long brown hair was tied up in a braid that went down to the middle of her back. Her skin tone was also tanned and freckled from being out in the sun, and it was covered by what she often referred to as “standard-issue” jungle girl attire, an animal skin bikini and loincloth. Like Karza, her body was toned, but remained slender.  
  
“Okay, slowly draw the arrow,” he whispered. Julie drew the bowstring back and pointed it at the one bald, American-sounding poacher holding a sniper rifle. Closing her eye and partially sticking her tongue out, she took aim at the poacher. Karza raised his hand. “NOW!”  
  
She let the bowstring go. The arrow struck its target, propelling the man forward. Julie grabbed another arrow, nocked it into the bowstring, and let it fly. The man had turned around, and the arrow struck him right in the chest. Julie pumped her fist as the man fell down.  
  
The other poachers quickly ran to investigate, and in the meantime, Julie removed the quiver from her shoulder and placed it on the branch. The couple stood and each grabbed a vine. With a mighty jungle call, the two swung down from the trees at the bewildered poachers, kicking the first ones they came across.  
  
They landed in primal stances. Karza calculated that they had a few seconds to really take the poachers out before they realized what the hells was going on. He lunged at one of them, tackling the guy like he was one of the Blue Bombers. He jumped around, keeping himself a moving target for the poachers. He really did look like Tarzan. And then he tackled another one and threw him to the ground.  
  
Julie had grabbed a Bowie knife and lunged for one of the poachers. A quick punch the jaw would be enough. Pinning the man down, she bound his arms and legs before another poacher rushed in with a knife. She grabbed his arm and pushed upwards, her bare feet digging into the dirt. She pushed forward and a kick to the solar plexus knocked him down so he too, could be taken care of.  
  
Karza wrestled with a poacher. The man was much bigger than he was, which made it all the more difficult. Still, the Jungle Dude had a few tricks of his sleeve. He slipped his foot in between the poacher’s legs. When the poacher wasn’t looking, he kicked the man’s legs out from under him and pinned him to the ground, putting him into a sleeper hold.  
  
Julie had finished tying up the last of the poachers when one pulled out a gun and pointed it at her. Instincts kicked in. She ran right up to him, lunged and tackled him before he could shoot her. They fought over the gun. Julie snarled like a wild beast, twisting the man’s arm and wrist. He screamed but he did not let go of the gun. That is, until Julie twisted his arm hard, forcing him to drop it.  
  
The poachers were taken care of. Except for one. Karza finished tying up his stooge and noticed some footprints in the dirt. He looked up and realized the man was getting away.  
  
But in the distance, he could see something he didn’t want to see; grey. And it was a familiar one, too. He looked away.  
  
“Shouldn’t we go after him?” Julie asked.  
  
“No,” Karza replied. “The jungle will get to him.”  
  
“Dramatic,” she quipped. “Ah, well. He’s predator bait.”  
  
“Yep,” said Karza. “By the looks of it, he won’t last long. Especially without his gun.” There were 4 poachers accounted for. There were 5 guns on the jungle floor.  
  
The poacher desperately ran from the scene. He tripped over a root, but kept going. He could see something in the distance getting closer. Relief filled his mind. He could hide here! Those savages were crazy!  
  
He raced up the stone steps into the middle of the square, where he stopped and took a breather. He had no gun and no knife. It would be difficult for him to survive out here—  
  
He heard a sound. He forgot that he didn’t have a weapon for a moment and tried to find it, but he realized how stupid he looked. His skin jolted and his spine tingled. He had to get out of here. NOW.  
  
He turned and ran. But that was all he could do before he was killed.  
  
Though they were certain the poacher would not escape, Julie was convinced that it was better to be safe than sorry. And so she likewise convinced Karza to investigate. They carried the poachers, after having unbound their legs so they could walk, and gagged their mouths. Julie had also retrieved her bow and quiver.  
  
As soon as she spotted the ruins, the anthropologist in Julie—she had graduated with a degree in anthropology—came to life. Her eyes lit up. “Oh, my… ruins!” she said while barely able to keep her excitement in check. She babbled on and on about how beautiful they looked and how she just wanted to inspect them so badly.  
  
But something welled up in Karza that sent a shiver down his spine.  “Julie,” he said. “I don’t think we should go in there.”  
  
Julie stopped before she even reached the steps and she turned around while accidentally throwing the poacher to the ground. Her inquisitive expression told Karza that she was not just confused, but several other adjectives that fit the feeling. She could see something in his eyes, but she didn’t know what it was. Okay, she knew what it was, but she didn’t know why Karza was feeling it.  
  
Just to make sure, she inched her bare big toe towards the steps and—“STOP!”  
  
“Are you okay?” she asked.  
  
“Yeah! I mean, why wouldn’t I be?” he asked.  
  
“Oooh, trouble in paradise!” Julie’s poacher hostage said, earning a kick from Julie.  
  
“Well, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you like that,” she said.  
  
“How?”  
  
“Well, scared.”  
  
“No, I’m not!” he lied.  
  
“Karza,” she said. “Stop lying.”  
  
“Look, that poacher’s not going to last long without weapons,” he said. “We should just—“  
  
“Karza,” she said. “They’re just ruins. Why are you so afraid of them?”  
  
It occurred to Karza that he had neglected to tell Julie about the ruins; how he was knocked out and woke up in front of the village, and that those ruins specifically were said to be cursed. But how? How could he tell her?  
  
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” she asked.  
  
“We should be going,” he said.  
  
He was persistent. And once he turned around to leave, that was the end of it. Julie didn’t say anything, except an order to the poacher prisoner to come along like a good boy.  
  
But the poachers were not thrilled one bit about this. Being captured by two people dressed in the animal skin bare-essentials is kind of humiliating, or so their facial expressions said. Usually, on a wretched hive like DevArt, it’s the bad guys who get the upper hand, but here it’s not the case. This is no exploitative fetish crap, this is an actual story. And besides, poachers DESERVE to get their asses handed to them for illegally hunting animals, driving so many species to near and absolute extinction, throwing ecosystems into chaos and making our world much more miserable.  
  
“I can’t wait to see you bastards get what you deserve,” said Julie. “We got pristine, unique wildlife unlike any on Earth. You see that cat there?” she pointed to a small cat about the size of a medium-sized dog. The cat slowly blinked and looked away. It had tufts on its ear like a bobcat, but it had a tail, which swished about. “That’s the only cat species like it in the world. And it’s here on this island. “There’s no fucking way we’ll ever let you hunt here, scum.  
  
“Crazy thing is, that cat’s technically not supposed to be here.”  
  
Greystoke is unique because every single animal, except for the flying foxes, are all considered invasive species. Yet, it appeared that they had not only been here long enough to adapt to the place, they had formed a fully functioning and balanced ecosystem, including working food chains, from producers to apex predators. Insular environments typically do not have such biodiversity in fauna. For example, Jamaica only has two native mammals, a bat and a Jamaican Hutia. The rest are birds, insects, and reptiles.  
  
Oh, they have those here on Greystoke, too.  
  
Of course, there’s also the undiscovered, recently-discovered and once-thought-to-be-extinct flora and fauna that got the attention of anyone, especially poachers.  
  
“Captured by a naked man,” said the apparent lead poacher. “This is humiliating.”  
  
“It could be worse,” Karza quipped. “You could be dinner for a predator.”  
  
The poacher rolled his eyes. He must not be pleased about this one bit.  
  
“You’ve never heard of Tarzan, have you?” Julie asked. The poacher turned around to glare at her, which she simply chuckled at. “Oh, look, the unarmed bad guy is trying to intimidate me. Isn’t he cute, Karza, honey?”  
  
“Adorable,” Karza replied.  
  
“You two make me sick,” said Julie’s hostage.  
  
“Why?” she asked. Because we’re practically naked, or is it because—”  
  
“Because you’re too lovey-dovey,” said the poacher. Julie smacked him, but only because she felt like it.  
  
“I think he’s jealous, Juju,” said Karza.  
  
“Juju?” she replied.  
  
“Yeah, Juju!” he said. “We need to give you a proper jungle girl name! Juju sounds perfect!”  
  
“Sounds like something else,” she said.  
  
“Where are you taking us?” the lead poacher asked.  
  
“Right here,” Karza replied, pointing at the walls of the village. “The village of the Teo.”  
  
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
The ruins they just came about had been abandoned for a long time.  
  
Well, only by humans.  
  
The poacher’s dead body lay on the stone street. Scavengers began to gravitate towards his carcass, as it was a veritable buffet. Flies and other insects had already descended onto his already-decomposing remains, and began the process of speeding the process up. In a matter of days, only a little bit of the poacher would remain. That’s nature for you. It’s pretty to look at, but let’s not kid ourselves; it’s pretty harsh.  
  
Suddenly, the flies and other insects flew away. The man’s body began to stir. Slowly, but surely, the body stood up, stretched itself out and sighed. “Ah, what a fine body,” he said. “I haven’t felt this great in ages. Hmm, kind of wish it wasn’t so decomposed. And what ARE these linens? Am I really supposed to wear this?”  
  
The body removed its clothes as it walked away from the ruins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's chapter 1 of Julie and the Cursed Ruins! How does it look?
> 
> While researching Polynesian wildlife, I came across the same problem: Insular environments are not very diverse in terms of animals. If you're lucky, you might get a rodent not called a bat. But hey, this is fantasy. I can do whatever the fuck I want, MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Explanation why to come later~~


	3. The Teo

The Teo Tribe village was in a good-sized clearing a quarter of a mile from the shore. Although a trail led to the beach, that’s not the focus right now. The village was surrounded by a wall… or fence, whatever, made of trees. Smoke could be seen rising from the inside, while outside, farmers tended to their small crop pits and livestock.  
  
The Teo are an indigenous tribe of the island, along with the Paea and Pele. They are still part of the same Greystokian ethnic group, itself a part of the Polynesian ethnic family.  
  
The poachers, obviously unfamiliar with the whole thing, were awestruck by the village. They shouldn’t have been, and a push from Julie told them they should get moving or else she’d drag them inside.  
  
Inside, it was a bit different. The village bustled with activity. A fishmonger hawked his wares, the medicine man worked with a patient and a pig ran past them, chased by one of the farmers. Karza and Julie could only imagine what that was all about. The village was filled with huts, approximately 50 or more. Neither of them even bothered to count.  
  
The Teo are farmers, hunters and fishermen. Their society is mostly patriarchal, although they’ve had the occasional female chief every now and again. And they are ambilineal, which means that a person belongs to both matrilineal and patrilineal descent groups. They are also not some “generic” Polynesian peoples. In fact, the term “generic” in this context might be a little, well… not politically correct, to say the least.  
  
In reality, they are sort of a hybrid between Maori, Fijian and Hawaiian cultures. Their language was primarily Maori-like, their clothes were a mixture of Hawaiian and Maori designs, and their weapons were mostly Fijian. They also performed hakas, which are primarily a Maori art form. The Hawaiians and Fijians have their own dances, but they’re not hakas.  
  
The medicine man, Kame, looked up from his patient and smiled at the two palemen, but that smile turned into a frown when he saw what they had with them. He wasn’t frowning at the palemen, but at the obvious miscreants they had with them. He stood up and strode over to them, getting into the faces of the poachers. They stopped and, obviously they were intimidated by him.  
  
He took advantage of this to stick out his tongue and bulge his eyes whilst chanting something in his native tongue. The poachers recoiled at this, but the medicine man’s laughter made them feel sillier. “A fine catch you have there!” he said. “A better catch than Hilo’s marlin catch last week!”  
  
“We caught ‘em near some stone ruins,” Julie said. Kame raised an eyebrow, but he was focused on their catch.  
  
“We shall deal with them,” he said. “Although, one will want to face palemen justice. We can send one to the palemen on the island. In the meantime, lock them up in those wooden cages over there.”  
  
Julie shoved the one poacher who teased her and Karza towards the wooden cages. Karza left one of the senior poachers and tied his wrists to a steak.  
  
“Quit pushing me!” the teasing poacher said.  
  
“MEMEMEH, QUIT PUSHIN’ ME!” Julie mocked. “Shaddup!” She shoved him into the cage while shoving two more into theirs. “You’re going on trial. You tried to kill some sweet little animals while in Teo territory, so you get to go in the cage.”  
  
“But it’s so small!”  
  
“Jeez, you’re bitchier than my friend Barbara!” Julie replied.  
  
Karza stayed behind and talked with Kame. “We already killed one of them,” he said while inspecting a tiki. “Julie shot him twice. The other one got away, but we suspect he’s dead.”  
  
“How do you know that?” Kame asked. “He could still be alive.”  
  
“The predators will take care of him,” Karza replied.  
  
“You’re hiding something,” Kame said, stopping in place. Karza shook his head, but Kame wasn’t buying it. “Where did the poacher go?” he asked.  
  
“To the ruins,” he said.  
  
“Then he is dead,” said Kame. “You know as well as I do how dangerous that place is. A surprise you weren’t killed back then.”  
  
Karza rubbed the back of his head and turned towards Julie, who was getting into another argument with the poacher. “You didn’t tell her why? Oh Spirits, you’re going to dig your own grave if you’re not careful.”  
  
“I was scared,” said Karza.  
  
Kame proceeded to smack him upside the head. “That’s not an excuse, Karza!” he said. “What have I always told you?”  
  
“Be upfront and honest,” Karza moaned.  
  
“Of course,” said Kame. “Are you going to tell her?”  
  
“Later.”  
  
“NO, NO, NO,” Kame said, again whacking him on the head. “Tell her NOW.” He pushed Karza over to Julie, and followed along.  
  
“… And the next thing you know, you’re a poacher!” the poacher began to sob, while Julie rubbed his back.  
  
“There, there,” she said. “The first step is admitting it.”  
  
“What’s next?”  
  
“You can still redeem yourself,” said Julie. “Why don’t we start by letting me braid your hair?”  
  
The MALE poacher looked around, apprehensively and then nodded.  
  
“Julie?” Karza said, walking up to his mate/girlfriend. “I… just wanted to be upfront and honest with you about something.  
  
Julie could see Kame behind him, and the medicine man’s presence made the Jungle Dude nervous. Perhaps it was better that he be nervous at this point, because… Julie couldn’t think of the right words to put it in. “About what?”  
  
“About the ruins,” said Karza. “Those ruins are well-known among the Teo. They’re… cursed, supposedly.” He knew from her scoff that she wasn’t impressed. “They’re… supposedly haunted by ‘oromatua-'ai-aru… ghosts, basically.”  
  
Julie couldn’t hold the laughter in, and she broke out into a full one, with Karza rolling his eyes and Kame doing the same. Even though Julie smacked the bars of the cage, the poacher inside was a little unsure. Must be because he had no idea what was going on. “You’re serious, right?” she asked. “Oh, wait, you are. Let me laugh even harder!”  
  
“NO,” Karza said. “I had a bad experience at those ruins when I was younger.”  
  
“Karza, curses only work if you believe in them,” she said. “It’s a classic self-fulfilling prophecy. And ghosts? Don’t get me started.”  
  
“You tried, Karza,” Kame said. “I probably should have mentioned she probably won’t believe you.” Karza didn’t want to admit it, but the medicine man had a good point.  
  
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
The poacher that Julie had shot in the chest was not dead.  
  
He was dying, of course. The arrow stuck out of his chest while he writhed in agony. The smallest motion shot another jolt of pain through his chest. The only thing he could do that didn’t cause a lot of pain was reach towards the blue sky filtering through the trees. He hissed because that still hurt like hell. “You little half-naked jungle  _bitch_ ,” he spat. “When I get my hands on you—”  
  
“You’ll what?”  
  
The voice was unfamiliar. The poacher looked and saw a pair of bare feet walking towards him. He tried to move again, but couldn’t. The figure clicked his tongue in disapproval. “Got yourself in a tight situation,” he said. The poacher looked up and his eyes widened. His poaching partner stood above him, naked and looking like a vampire, just without all the… vampire stuff. “How you doin?”  
  
“Johan?”  
  
“No, he’s dead,” the man said with a smile that sent a chill down his spine, to say the least. “I’m a… passing traveler. How about this? I get that arrow out of your chest and you help me out? That sound good?”  
  
“Johan!” the poacher feverishly pleaded.  
  
“Oh dear, you’re about to die, son,” said Johan’s body. “You want me to help you out? Just say it, I’ll do it.”  
  
“HELP ME!” the poacher cried.  
  
“Alright, alright, just hold still, now.” Johan’s body reached down and yanked the arrow out of the poacher’s body, drawing a scream that sent bats and birds flying away. His chest felt like it was on fire while writhed and kicked against the pain, until he heard Johan’s body laughing. “Calm down, son, you’re not dyin’.”  
  
The bewildered poacher clutched his chest. There was nothing; no blood, no arrow. He frantically stood up and for the first time got a look at Johan’s body. Here, the man’s inhuman smile struck more fear into him, and it was the worst he’d ever felt. And those eyes… those eyes. The body was Johan’s, but the soul or whatever it was, was not. “What are you?” he asked.  
  
“Just a passing traveler,” said Johan’s body. “I’m not a god, they don’t exist. I need your help with something. And now that I’ve saved your life, I need you to agree to it.”  
  
“Anything,” said the poacher.  
  
“Perfect! Now, what’s your name?”  
  
“Phillip,” said the poacher.  
  
“Pleased to meet you, Phillip. Hope you guess my name,” said Johan’s body. Then the body clicked his tongue and laughed several times. “Oops, forgot you already guess mine. Let’s just say, my initials are… R.F.”  
  
“R.F.?”  
  
“Not really important,” said the man. “I have some… special abilities and techniques that might come in handy. I’ve got an idea where we can try it out. Shall we?”  
  
The poacher nodded. Johan’s body wrapped his arm around his shoulder and led him away. “Also, who was this half-naked chick you were talking about?”  
  
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
“Karza, nothing is wrong with skepticism,” said the Chief of the Teo, Manti.  
  
The Chief sat in his hut in the middle of the village, writing down some edicts and taking inventory of some crops his famers had grown. His middle-aged face did not look at Karza. His yellow and orange ʻahu ʻula, a feathered cloak to denote his authority, was draped over his shoulders, while his mahiole, a helmet, sat off to the side as he didn’t need it right now. His servant did not once move, instead holding his clay tablet with the paper he used to write it down.  
  
Karza sat cross-legged across from him, his lips bunching up. Suffice to say, the Jungle Dude was a little bit disappointed in the way Chief Manti did not seem concerned about Julie’s skepticism, instead accepting it. “Why are you confused?” Manti asked. “You know the palemen; they do not believe what they cannot see. And you told me not too long ago that the palemen like her prefer to see evidence.” Manti shrugged. “She will come around of her own free will. Do not force her to accept it.”  
  
“But it really happened to me,” said Karza.  
  
“I know,” he said. “But as I said, she will learn eventually.”  
  
“But not before she goes there.”  
  
“Then keep her from going there,” said Manti. “Do not manipulate her, just ask her politely. I’m sure she’ll agree to it.”  
  
“Sounds good,” said Karza.  
  
“Are you staying for the luau tonight?” Manti asked. “Oh, wait. It’s not until sundown. Either way, you’re invited.”  
  
“Sounds good,” said Karza.  
  
Karza could not find Julie when he came out. He did ask around, and found out where she was. She left the village for the shore. Like many Polynesian peoples, the Teo are fishermen, and their village is not too far from the shore. It’s a bit of a walk, but not a tiring one, of course, just due south of the main Teo Tribe village.  
  
There was a satellite village on the shore, where tribesmen worked on their boats. Like the Hawaiians and Maori, the Teo developed an outrigger canoe that not only helped them get to the island many generations ago, but they use for practical purposes like fishing and recreational purposes like many westerners would use an outrigger for.  
  
There were also a few tribesmen surfing out in the ocean. Being a Polynesian culture, surfing was an important part of their lives. Julie couldn’t surf, of course. She tried that a couple times on a family trip to Los Angeles, but failed miserably each time and finally gave up on the third trip to LA. She didn’t want to embarrass herself, although the dumb surf boys of SoCal probably didn’t notice.  
  
But it was a relief to get out of the stifling heat, humidity and thickness of the Greystoke rainforest to the openness of the beach, where the smell of saltwater refreshed her after taking in the stench of so many plants. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore, and endless blue skies, dotted with clouds—and a typhoon in the distance—was a much-needed sight for sore eyes and sound for also-sore ears. Yes, she loved the jungle, but she needed a break from it every now and then.  
  
And it looked like Karza did, too.  
  
Karza soon came to the beach, walking up behind her. She turned around, getting a full ful of his chest, a view she happened to be quite pleased with. "My eyes are up here," he said.  
  
“Sorry,” she said, finding his hair to be an even better view.  
  
“Are you okay?” he asked.  
  
“Of course,” she said. “I just wanted some fresh air.”  
  
“Okay,” he said as she sat down on the sand, burying her feet into it.  
  
“Oh, this feels nice,” she said, lifting her foot up and examining the sand getting in between her toes. To calm down, she focused on her foot. Of course, if some creep was staring at it right now, she’d kicked the bastard with that foot. To her, there was something about never wearing shoes again that was oddly liberating, aside from wearing the bare minimum of a standard-issue jungle girl outfit.  
  
Okay, part of it was practical, because wearing shoes in a hot and humid rainforest would mean some pretty bad athlete’s foot. But as a jungle girl, she was connected to nature, and going barefoot was both symbolic and literal. Also the Teo, being related to the Maori, have a strong cultural and social emphasis on going barefoot, so much so that it’s the biggest reason Karza, himself a Teo adoptee, goes barefoot.  
  
It’s also more comfortable. But, her soles were… kinda dirty. She needed to wash ‘em off, so she got up and put her feet in the surf. She forgot there were a few calluses on her feet, so she cringed when the saltwater hit her soles. However, she relaxed and felt the dirt washing off. Of course, in the year she has not worn a pair of shoes, the skin on her soles has gotten stronger, providing her with better grip on the trees, dirt, etc.  
  
But enough with the digression on the liberating aspects of going barefoot. The author simply wanted to save going barefoot from perverts who put up disgusting pictures of peoples’ feet and distort the whole idea behind going barefoot. Also, going barefoot is probably not for everyone. It’s best to talk to an experienced, licensed medical professional AKA a  _doctor_ , than the author, who is not one.  
  
“Can I ask you something?” he asked her.  
  
“Sure,” she replied.  
  
“You know those ruins we found earlier?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“I’d just like it if you not go there,” he said. “That place has bad memories for me, and… I’d rather stay away from it. And I’d like you to as well.”  
  
Looking at the honesty and concern in his expression, Julie leaned her head against his chest and sighed with the wind blowing some of her braided hair. “Sure,” she said. “I just got excited, you know? Anthropologist instincts.”  
  
“I understand,” Karza said while wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Julie's a scientist, through and through. And I happen to have a pretty pro-science view of things, as well, and I like to consider myself a skeptic. Of course, as I mentioned in the last chapter, this is fantasy, and I can do whatever I want. 
> 
> Also, I'm referencing a couple things in the Johann passage. For extra points, I want you to point them out!


	4. The Walkin' Dude

Phillip followed Johan—er, his body—though the jungle. The heat and humidity were getting to him, as if felt agonizingly hot and it was like the air was thick with so much water he could’ve sworn that wasn’t sweat soaking his clothes. Meanwhile, Johan’s body trekked through like he knew where he was going. Phillip found it strange. But this being literally saved his life, so he was pretty sure he was supposed to follow him. Didn’t mean he had any reservations about it, of course.  
  
But as it went on, Phillip began to get impatient. They were nowhere nearer to Julie and Karza’s location, if he even knew where they were. “Where are we going?”  
  
Johan stopped. He turned and smiled to him. Phillip could not get used to the smile, even though it was a genuine one. There was a darkness to it, and a dark hilarity as well. This was not a kind happiness, but a cruel and hateful one. He reminded him of The Joker in a way, although FAR more intimidating and, dare he say it, evil. But the charisma was evident in the man’s laugh as he laid a friendly hand on Phillip’s shoulder.  
  
“Sorry about that,” he said. “I was uh… looking for something. There’s more ruins around here, and I’d like to find them. It’s just that it’s been a while and my uh… memory’s hazy.”  
  
“Oh,” said Phillip. “Is that why you’re naked?”  
  
The man laughed. “Nah,” he said. “I just didn’t like the linens I was wearing. Too… uncomfortable.”  
  
Phillip couldn’t tell if it was because of the heat (which is understandable) or some reason known only to the man possessing Johan’s body. “Are you a demon?”  
  
The man laughed. “No, I’m not,” he said. “Just a humble man with a few… abilities. Allow me to demonstrate.”  
  
He strode towards a tree and placed his hand on it. Instantly, the tree began to wither and die. A cat fell out of the tree, as did several bats, birds, insects and even fungi. Phillip only watched in shock and surprise. But then Johan’s body let go of the tree. Next, he touched it again. And the tree came back to life. “Easy peasy,” he said.  
  
“How—how—only God has that power!”  
  
“Nah, it’s easy once you get the hang of it,” said Johan’s body—er, RF.  
  
Several thoughts filled Phillip’s mind, the most prominent of which was fear. RF’s laughing wasn’t making things any better, especially when he looked at the dead animals while clicking his tongue, shaking his head, and saying what a shame it was to see such cute wittle animals dead. And then he remembered that he killed them and he laughed again.  
  
“Well?” RF asked. “Whaddaya say?” Again his smile and eyes cut through Phillip right to his very core. And all he could do was nod. RF chuckled again and wrapped his arm around Phillip’s shoulder and apologized for touching him while naked.  
  
The two continued on for what seemed like hours. Minutes can feel like hours in the Greystoke jungle, and it has helped Julie and Karza learning how to take each day as it comes. The only way Phillip knew that only half an hour passed in the jungle was with the digital watch he wore, which miraculously still worked.  
  
He also felt more comfortable walking behind RF, although he did not appreciate having to look at Johan’s ass, which, despite his firm heterosexuality, was firm and nice to look at. Stupid sexy Johan!  
  
He pushed that thought out of his head.  
  
They soon came across another stone structure. It was the same as the old one, although not an exact copy. Perhaps the person who designed it inserted subtle little differences that only they knew about. Maybe. Or maybe there’s no rhyme or reason to this.  
  
“Hoo, this place could use some redecorating,” said RF. “Throw a few flowers and a carpet around here. That oughta do it.”  
  
RF continued to walk about the ruins, examining it. As usual, he shook his head and click his tongue in disappointment all the while. He picked up a couple rocks and examined them, but dropped them like they were trash. “Ugh, I forgot,” he said. “There’s a reason they call ‘em ruins. Eventually, nature just takes everything back, dust to dust, all we are is dust in the wind.” Phillip wondered how RF, if he apparently lived on an island, could know who Kansas was.  
  
“What are we going to do?” he asked.  
  
“Just watch,” said RF. He spat on his hands and rubbed them together, which grossed Phillip out, so he turned away. That is, until he heard rumbling.  
  
RF began to lift up his hand. The ruins themselves began to shake, and Phillip backed away. RF lifted several rocks like they were pencils and smashed them into the ruins.  
  
But he seemed to be uncomfortable, winding up the arm he just used as if he was warming up for a baseball game. Phillip walked up the steps and saw him cringing. Was he in pain? It didn’t look like it, it was more like disappointment or anger at himself rather than pain. Phillip walked up to him to see RF shaking the discomfort off.  
  
“I hate using corpses,” he said. “This one’s fresh, but the last time I inhabited a body, he was alive.”  
  
“What’s the difference?” Phillip asked.  
  
He expected RF to be angry, but he wasn’t. But that smile still sent chills through his body. “A big difference,” he said. “Living bodies are stronger, dead bodies aren’t. In fact—” he looked at his hand and saw some bugs climbing over him, forcing him to shake it off. “This one’s trying to stave of decomposition. Or maybe it wants to decompose.”  
  
“So you’re concerned this body might fall apart before you can get anything done,” said Phillip.  
  
“You catch on quick,” said RF. His lips began to retreat into a snarl, but he recovered to keep it from doing so. “But I can’t possess a new body unless they step onto my old home.”  
  
“What should we do?”  
  
“Tell you what,” said RF. “I can sense someone coming this way. You pretend to be in trouble and I’ll deal with him.”  
  
Phillip nodded and jogged to the edge of the ruins where RF pointed and RF hid from sight. Phillip didn’t have to wait long as someone came walking up to the ruins.  
  
Phillip knew there was a research team on the island—whom he and his comrades would have dealt with at some point—and he recognized this one person as one of the researchers. He was apparently 30 years old and well-built enough. Phillip clenched his fist, as this man, an American, looked around the place, and once he laid eyes on the ruins, his fate was sealed.  
  
“HEY!” Phillips called, rushing towards the man, who held a gun, “I need help!”  
  
“What, what is it?” the man asked, his fair skin glistening with sweat.  
  
“My friend—my friend is in there! He needs help, he’s trapped under a large rock!” Phillip pleaded. The researcher, who was actually a guard, shouldered his rifle and ran up the steps of the ruins. With Phillip behind him, he ran through the ruins, but did not find anything. He was getting concerned. And the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach was getting tighter.  
  
“What’s going on?” he asked. Phillip stood still and pointed behind him. The researcher guard turned to see RF walking towards him. Fear struck like a wrecking ball and he raised his rifle to shoot. He got several shots off that seemed to hit RF, but from his expression, it must’ve tickled.  
  
“Not bad,” RF quipped. “A little fight in you. I like that.” RF grabbed the rifle and pulled it out of his hands, then placed his hand on the screaming researcher guard’s face. The man screamed as a blue glow radiated from RF’s fingers until the screaming stopped.  
  
Johan’s body’s eyes turned back and the body collapsed to resume the process of decay. The researcher’s body shuddered and twitched, until it sighed. And when Phillip saw RF’s menacing smile creeping across his lips, he knew that RF had taken over. “Ah, MUCH better,” RF’s body quipped. “Put up a bit of a fight, but it’s just me now. Oh man, these clothes again?” he proceeded to remove the man’s clothes. He found his ID card and held it up. “Tim, huh? Nice name, looks like a nice guy.”  
  
“So what are we going to do now?” Phillip asked.  
  
“Take your clothes off,” said RF. “It’s not that bad.”  
  
Phillip proceeded to strip. But again, he asked, “What’s next?”  
  
“Next, we find some folks to follow us,” RF said when he removed all of Tim’s clothes. “I think I can sense a few around here somewhere. Let’s go check it out.”  
  
When Phillip was naked, he followed RF to find those followers.  
  
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
Kame was meditating—a trick that was introduced to him by the palemen that he particularly liked—when he felt a jolt to his head. He threw it back and groaned. In his mind, the images of death and destruction flashed incoherently until a pair of menacing red eyes stared back at him.  
  
To avoid it, he woke up in a sweat. He panted heavily, trying to keep himself stable. His apprentice stood and held him up. “Kame, what happened?” he asked.  
  
“I fear something terrible may happen,” said Kame.  
  
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
It was late afternoon. Karza and Julie had left the village to return to their treehouse, or at least Karza did.  
  
Julie had other things on her mind. Like those ruins, for one. Yes, she agreed to Karza that she wouldn’t go anywhere near them, but curiosity’s a funny thing. You knew why we have the phrase “curiosity killed the cat”.  
  
But curiosity is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s the biggest reason for why we learn. Humans wouldn’t have become such a technologically advanced species who’s been to the moon and back if some ancient hominid didn’t pick up a rock, smash it against something and let curiosity get the better of him. So while curiosity can certainly be deadly, it is human curiosity that should be celebrated, not demonized, especially by people who can’t stand curiosity and would rather stick to what they already know, like an ancient anthology book—SHOT.  
  
And Julie, having the mind of a social scientist, and had that stroked and encouraged by her teacher’s was curious about those ruins. She also wanted to prove to Karza that there was nothing to be afraid of. If he didn’t confront those fears, he could never get over them. And she wanted to help him get over them, even if she knew he was going to be FURIOUS at her for going behind her back and—  
  
Okay, that made her feel guilty. There’s a reason she decided to become a jungle girl, and it was out of a genuine love and trust of her Jungle Dude mate, as well as a trust of her own abilities to survive and thrive in the wild. And she was breaking his trust.  
  
Might as well be honest with him.  
  
She climbed through the trees, carrying a bag with her and moving like a cat and a monkey on all four limbs. She kept her bare feet lined up on the branches, curling her toes around them carefully to keep her upright. She looked around, scanning the jungle for anything. When she found a vine, she stood on the branch across from her and grabbed the vine.  
  
She swung onto the next tree, and to the next vine like Tarzan. She wasn’t some swinging newbie, in fact since she’d been doing this for longer than before she even arrived on Greystoke—the swinging, that is—it was like second nature. Again, she wouldn’t have done this if she didn’t trust her own abilities.  
  
The ruins stuck out like a sore thumb, so it was easy to find them. She stood on the tree branch across from the ruins, surveying them to find anything. There wasn’t much. She deduced that the spot she and her mate first attacked the poachers was a bit to the north, as determined by the angle at which she looked over the ruins.  
  
She dropped down and carefully walked up to the ruins. Yes, she didn’t want to believe the ruins were cursed or haunted, but she just wanted to be sure. Gingerly and carefully, she stepped closer until she found the steps into the ruins. She just as carefully placed her bare foot on the steps and—  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
She smiled and jumped onto the ruins. When nothing else happened, she laughed. What was Karza so afraid of? If nothing was happening to her, then why should she care?  
  
She skipped throughout what she suspected to be the street, although that may have been a little subjective. The ruins were quiet, save for the sounds of her bare feet padding along the stone, itself muffled by some of the moss that had grown in between the cracks in the stone. She stopped when she felt a little embarrassed. But she’s walked around the Teo Tribe village and the research camp naked as the day she was born, so she laughed at herself for getting embarrassed for being unapologetically girly.  
  
Something caught her eye that made her stop in place. There were carvings on some of the rocks. The anthropologist in her took over and she rushed over to those glyphs to see what it was.  
  
There was some form of writing that she couldn’t quite decipher. The Teo could write, but they had their own set of text and this didn’t match. But along with those carved glyphs, she could see carved pictures like in Ancient Egyptian and Mayan sites. Some of them were covered in moss that she brushed away.  
  
Examining them carefully, she found they told a story just from the images. It depicted a naked man standing above a group of people. They looked like they were worshipping him. At first, she looked to see if it went from left to right to find out it went downward. The next image depicted what must have been the man’s followers or enemies twisting and turning away from the man, who, despite his apparently blank features on the first one, had a toothy grin.  
  
He must have been like some kind of messiah or cult leader, because the glyphs, just like the ones with followers worshipping him, showed him performing a number of magic tricks, like raising the dead. It couldn’t have been Jesus, of course.  
  
Because the next glyphs told a different story. The man’s followers must have done something bad, because people were fleeing from him. There was more. The tribes united and fought back. But the glyphs ended, which could only mean one thing: That the tribes were victorious.  
  
Julie took a piece of paper and charcoal stick from her bag and rubbed an image of the glyphs onto the paper. It took a couple minutes before she was done with the entire tablet.  
  
Of course now, she was even more nervous. She stood up and began to leave, but she stepped on something soft.  
  
It was the clothes worn by the poacher.  
  
She clamped her hand over her mouth and followed the passage back off the ruins. Tracks of the man’s shoes led to the ruins. Tracks of bare feet led away. She followed the remnants of the shoe tracks back towards the spot she assumed they led to: The place where she and Karza fought the poachers.  
  
And she was right, as she arrived pretty quickly. When she didn’t see the man she shot earlier, she got concerned. The knot of nervousness tightened in her chest. But perhaps the animals simply dragged him away.  
  
She walked up to and examined the ground near where he used to be. Then she found the tracks that led away from the site. Could the poacher she shot have left? This didn’t look good and something told her it probably wasn’t a good idea to follow. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and proceeded to climb back into the trees so she could head back to the treehouse she shared with Karza.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mr. RF begins his plans and Julie goes behind Karza's back to figure out just what is going on. I thought I would sort of give Julie and Karza a little test of their relationship, and to have Karza confront his fears. However, Karza might be right in a way.


	5. The Village of the Exiles

Julie swung through the jungle on her way back to the treehouse she shared with Karza.  
  
It took a hearty individual to survive in Greystoke’s jungle. There were members of the Teo who lived in the wild over the years, and Julie and Karza were, in essence, as honorary members of the tribe, taking part in this tradition. So no, it has nothing to do with them being “superior civilized folk”. That’s a… problematic reason, to say the least.  
  
But the fact that they’ve not only survived, but thrived in this harsh environment is still praise-worthy. Tarzan and Mowgli would be proud.  
  
Once she found her footing, it was easy for her to climb up the tree and to the top, where she looked out over the green expanse of trees extending out for miles, ending at the blue of the Pacific Ocean and the grey cliffs in the distance. The treehouse, from what she could tell, was a kilometer to the south.  
  
There we go!  
  
She quickly climbed down, but carefully. She’d slipped once on a shorter tree, but that adrenaline that coursed through her arteries was… not pleasant. It may have been a short drop before Karza caught her, but she’d never been more frightened in her life, and this was after being chased by a predatory cat that led her to being saved by Karza—and thus how this whole thing started.  
  
Once she got down, she pulled out her compass—no one was that stupid to just drop it—and found her way south. She adjusted her bag and pressed on.  
  
It took half an hour before she reached the three house. A rope ladder had been rolled up to discourage anyone. It just took a climb up to another tree to get up. She jumped off the thick branch and onto the porch of the treehouse.  
  
It was a simple, two-story abode that was perfect for a jungle couple. It was stripped down, with only a few electronics, but no TV and no running refrigerator. There were two battery-powered radios, one to listen to music with and a HAM radio. It was also stocked with books, ranging from To Kill a Mockingbird to Tarzan to Harry Potter and a number of John Steinbeck novels. Karza had kept these after the shipwreck that left him here on Greystoke.  
  
Their bedroom, on the second story of this humble abode, is just as bare-boned, save for a bed and the bookcase, but an amazing view of the rainforest. And there was something on this bed (covered by a mosquito net).  
  
It was a sword. Now, technically, this is like bringing an invasive species into the game, what with nobody on the island even capable of making a sword except a researcher. Of course, the researchers also brought guns, so it’s not like she’s holding a nuke on her hands.  
  
It was a hand-and-a-half sword with a three-foot blade. She wanted it because after having to use a machete against monkeys and Orangta the Monkey Queen, she needed a new weapon. Indeed, the note tied to it told her only to use it in the case of an emergency.  
  
And she’s not the kind of person to go back on that promise.  
  
Living close to/in nature allowed them to enjoy the simple things in the world, like a sunset over an untouched tropical rainforest—Spirits know just how many of those are left on this planet.  
  
Julie sat on the bed with a book in her hand, her bare feet dangling and kicking while she read how Tarzan saved Jane from the clutches of La, Queen of Opar. While she and Jane shared some similarities, it was only the movie and Disney Jane that she had the most similarities to. Book Jane wanted Tarzan/Lord Greystoke to be civilized. Movie and Disney Jane wanted to stay with Tarzan. It wasn’t until later that Jane became the Queen of the Jungle in the books. For someone used to the jungle girl portrayal of Jane, it can be pretty confusing.  
  
It’s one thing to assume that since most jungle girls and boys are pretty mayo, it’s a racist concept.  
  
On the contrary.  
  
It’s only been the last 2,000 years that Europeans have moved away from old pagan ideals, where they were aware of how close to nature they were. Christianity—or perhaps Greco-Roman civilization—ended that, separating humans from nature. This is because according to doctrine, God created the animals first, and then the humans to have dominion over them. Again, it might not be so clear-cut. That’s not to say there aren’t Christian environmentalists, of course, there certainly are.  
  
As Europeans became more urbanized, the separation between human and animal only widened. Concepts like the wild child have tapped into that old, pagan ideal as well as our wild side. Humans are animals, after all, we just tend to forget that sometimes. These concepts are universal, from African tribes, to Native Americans to the Polynesians. Sadly, some of the early contributors to the genre had different values that we modern folk have.  
  
Anyway, getting back to the story.  
  
“Karza?” she called. “Are you home, sweetie?”  
  
“I’m here!” Karza called. “Outside!”  
  
Julie looked up and saw Karza hanging from a rope outside and he must have been working on something outside, because he had a couple tools in his hand. She strode over to the window and stuck her head out, calling, “I have something I want to show you!”  
  
“Okay!” Karza called back.  
  
Julie ran downstairs as Karza lowered himself down to the front patio and was inside when Julie glomped him, almost knocking him off his feet. “Take it easy!” Karza said.  
  
“Sorry,” she said.  
  
“What is it you wanted to show me?” he asked.  
  
She pulled the pressings out of her bag to hand to Karza. He looked them over. She could see the surprise and interest in his expression. “What does it mean?” he asked.  
  
“No idea,” she said. “I think it tells a story.”  
  
“Where’d you find these?”  
  
Julie sighed, but resigned herself to the truth. He wasn’t honest with her earlier, so she might as well do the opposite—be honest with him. “After I left the beach I picked up a charcoal stick and a notepad from the researchers,” she began. “And then I went to the ruins.”  
  
He dropped the papers. They fluttered down to the floor, which would have been more dramatic if they were actual rocks she took from the ruins. Julie knew that this wasn’t a good subject for Karza, and his bulging eyes were louder than any word.  
  
“WHY?” he asked.  
  
“I was curious,” she replied.  
  
“And you went behind my back!?”  
  
“I just told you the truth!” she replied. “At least I was upfront and honest from the beginning, and—"  
  
“Julie, THOSE RUINS ARE CURSED!” Karza shouted. “I DO NOT WANT YOU GOING ANYWHERE NEAR THOSE!”  
  
“YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” she fired back. “I WANTED TO HELP YOU!!!”  
  
“WELL YOU DIDN’T!” Karza shouted. “AND YOU DID IT WITHOUT FUCKING TELLING ME!”  
  
“I JUST TOLD YOU!”  
  
“YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME BEFORE!”  
  
“AT LEAST I’M HONEST!”  
  
“SOMETHING COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU!"  
  
“NOTHING HAPPENED!”  
  
Karza was taken aback. “What?”  
  
“Nothing happened,” she said. “I stepped onto the ruins, looked around and didn’t die.”  
  
“How is that—”  
  
“Karza, I  _told you_ , curses aren’t real,” she said. “It’s all in your mind.”  
  
“Were you scared?”  
  
“Obviously,” she said. “I mean, that kind of reputation kinda scares you.”  
  
“Okay,” he said.  
  
“Karza, I’m sorry I worried you,” she said while tenderly and intimately stroking his smooth cheek. “I just wanted to help you get over your fear of that place.”  
  
“Thanks,” Karza said, laying his forehead on hers. “And I’m sorry I yelled at you.”  
  
“Sorry I yelled at you too,” she said. “And you’re welcome.”  
  
The Jungle Couple held each other tightly for the next several minutes, content to be in each other’s arms and silently forgiving each other for blowing up at the other.  
  
The perfect couple isn’t completely perfect, but if you work things out, you will have a long, healthy, loving relationship. And Julie and Karza are going to have that.  
  
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
It took some time, but RF and Phillip came across a village in the middle of a wide, open area near the middle of the island. Here, they could see the cliffs and bluffs of the island much more clearly, and it was a relief to finally escape the stifling heat and humidity of the jungle. Phillip broke out in goosebumps all over and in a certain region, which actually felt… kind of nice.  
  
RF took a deep breath and a sigh. “AAH, fresh air!” he said. He stood tall and proud like he wanted people to look at him and his manly perfection, and that includes EVERY part of his body. Beating his chest, he laughed in that same disturbing way.  
  
He wrapped his arm around Phillip, who tried to back away.  
  
“Come on son, it’s not that bad,” he said. “We’re living the way the Gods intended us to live; wild, naked and free!”  
  
“That’s not what I mean,” said Phillip.  
  
“Son, let me tell you, there is nothing wrong with being gay,” said RF. And remember, just because the bad guy is saying it, doesn’t make it any less true. The author certainly believes in LGBT rights and tries to include LGBT representation in any way I can, especially if it fits the themes of the story (but I’m not about to tokenize LGBT folk). It won’t matter in the long run, and this is a little bit of trivia, but Julie MIGHT be bisexual, although that’s another story for another day. Really, RF may be bad, but he’s still right. “I’m not gay, but if you are, I respect that and I’ll support you, no matter what.”  
  
“Why are we here?” Phillip asked.  
  
“Son, this is the Village of the Exiled,” said RF.  
  
The Village of the Exiled is just what the name implies. Here, wretched folks from the Teo, Paea and Pele Tribes come here after being exiled either by force, by choice, or other reasons. People who could not fit into their societies, even if there are outsiders in all societies who get by just fine, even in the Teo, Paea and Pele.  
  
But these poor, wretched souls mixed with criminals; petty thieves, murderers and others. And yet, they all co-existed in this village in some strange synergy and harmony. The one thing that united all of them was their self-loathing, misery at their lot in life, and deep-seated anger at the societies that shunned them and turned them away. Even when it was their fault, they commiserated over their shared experiences of hardship and pain.  
  
Upon entering the village, no one noticed the two naked, fit palemen. All of them, men, women and children, sat around, wallowing in their self-pity. Even when they did something productive, the misery could easily be read in their actions: slowly stirring the pot of bland gruel, lethargically chopping coconuts into two pieces, and the guards leaning against the entrance as if they didn’t care about who they were guarding, or why they were guarding them.  
  
“This place is miserable,” said Phillip.  
  
“And all the more ready for me,” said RF.  
  
He walked through the wretched bastards to the middle of the leaderless lot. He made a motion with his hands and was raised up higher than the villagers, which caught their attention. Phillip walked up behind him to join him on this podium.  
  
RF’s disturbing smile widened as the wretched gathered around him. “Friends! Lonelymen! Lend me your ears!” he called. “You can call me… RF. I see what’s wrong. You’ve all been kicked out by the only homes you’ve ever known. And you have no idea what to do anymore! I know, I know, you don’t like to be reminded. But please, hear me out.  
  
“You see, I’m here to help!” the villagers murmured. “I know what you want and need—a leader! Well, I know you’re not just going to accept me all willy-nilly, but I just want you to know, I wanna help you! ALL of you! And you there, Mr. Leprosy man!”  
  
A man suffering from leprosy lifted his head and looked at him. He did not look good, to say the least. His disfigured face was covered in bumps and boils, he lifted his hand, the fingers of which had been reduced to simple stubs, and his legs looked to be in such agony that just getting on his badly-diseased knees seemed to hurt. The other villagers recoiled from him, gasps erupting and they turned away.  
  
RF stepped down from the podium and walked up to the man. He placed his hand on the leprosy victim’s face and a blue glow emanated from his fingertips. The villagers watched in amazement as the man’s leprosy was effortlessly healed. He looked like a new man, and his fingers, once stubs, were now long and healthy.  
  
The man worshipfully bowed before RF, but RF rubbed his hair.  
  
Many of the villagers were impressed. But RF could see some people who were neither impressed, nor worshipping. They were skeptical of him, and not just for his healing. He could see it in their eyes: they did not trust him. Who was this paleman who came to their village unannounced, proclaiming that he wanted to be their leader?  
  
“We don’t need a leader!” one called. “Who do you think you are to come in here and act like you’re entitled to lead us? I don’t like you, stranger! Now LEAVE!”  
  
Phillip look at the man and back at RF, who was making a “he’s got a point” gesture with his head and shrugging. “We’re not going to win all of them over,” he said. “If you don’t want to follow me, that’s fine! All we’re looking for are a few volunteers who want to change their lives for the better! You don’t need those naysayers who doubt us! Let them go somewhere else!”  
  
That was enough for the one man who stood up to him. No, he did not leave. Instead, he marched forward, his face contorted in anger. “I said LEAVE!” he said. “I will NOT bow to the likes of you! You who proclaim yourself better than everyone just because of the color of your skin. You who treats us like ants looking for leadership. I say, NO!”  
  
“Better watch yourself,” RF warned. Phillip could detect irritation in RF’s voice. And it made him recoil more than his smile. “Take one more step and I’ll—“  
  
“Or you’ll what?”  
  
RF had no answer and the man knew it. The wretched of the village looked up him again. "And what will you do to me?" RF asked.  
  
The man had no answer, and both he and RF knew it. The crowd booed and jeered the man, but RF held his hands out to calm them.  
  
“Now, now,” he said. “He has a right to his opinions, it’s only fair.”  
  
The man didn’t like RF’s tone and turned away.  
  
“Anyone who wants to follow me, let it be known,” RF continued. “If you don’t want to, you can stay here. We’ll be leaving this village for a new home in the jungle. And I can assure you that we will rebuild.”  
  
The reaction from the wretched and exiled was almost unanimous. The ones willing to follow clamored up to him, throwing their arms to him and chanting for his leadership. RF held his hands out again, smiling and turning around, and so did Phillip, although he was more amazed at the exaltation RF was receiving rather than receiving it himself. The stragglers and critics looked around in dismay, returning to their huts so they could live in peace.  
  
RF waved his arm to beckon his new followers to come with him, jumping down to the ground and walked out of the village. The crowd followed, chanting his leadership and name. They were like ants to RF’s ant queen. He had them in the palm of his hand and he knew it, looking down at it, clenching and unclenching it as if he wasn’t used to the power he held in his hands right now.  
  
But Phillip was not happy. Although he followed RF, he looked dissatisfied and even angry. And there’s a reason for that.  
  
“You’re going to let him LIVE!?” Phillip stage-whispered into RF’s ear. “He could—”  
  
“We have more important things to worry about,” said RF. “Your little jungle girl went to my old playground earlier.”  
  
“And you didn’t possess her!?”  
  
“I have things perfectly under control,” said RF. “Leave the jungle girl alone, she’ll be dealt with. We need her to lower her guard.”  
  
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” said Phillip.  
  
“Of course I do,” said RF. “Besides, what can she do? She’s just a jungle girl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Julie and Karza do fight on occassion. Every couple does it, it's part of relationships. You have to accept the fact that your significant other is different from you, but you must respect them and their choices.
> 
> Also, in accordance with the other RF I modeled RF after, of course he's some kind of evil messiah. But he's patient, so there's no way he was going to kill a dissenter right them and there, especially when he doesn't need to.


	6. The Stakeout

Though he and Julie fought and made up about the ruins in a matter of seconds, he was still worried about them. Lying naked in bed, like he always sleeps, later that night, he stared up through the mosquito net at the ceiling, memories of the ruins. Still, when he awoke on a nice, post-rain morning a week later and after donning his loincloth, he stepped out onto the porch of the treehouse to look out over the jungle to think about the ruins.  
  
He had… bad memories of the place, to say the least. It wasn’t PTSD, but he still had bad memories of that.  
  
He heard the padding of bare feet on the wood and turned around. There stood Julie, topless but donning her top, in all her wild glory. He smiled at her, remembering why he loved her so much before turning around and letting her snake her arms around his body. “How’d you sleep?” he asked.  
  
“Wonderfully,” she replied, nuzzling into his bare back. “Are you alright, honey?”  
  
“I’m alright,” he said.  
  
“You’re still worried about the ruins.”  
  
She felt him squeeze her tighter and she knew he must’ve tensed up. “You’re serious?”  
  
“What happened?” she asked.  
  
She looked up at him to see him gazing forlornly into the distance. The early-morning mist, haze and fog hung over the trees, lit by the rising sun. Though one can’t find Greystoke on a map or by satellite, that doesn’t mean it’s in its own little plane of existence where the laws of time and space have—SHOT.  
  
Sorry, we were supposed to be describing early morning in the jungle.  
  
Karza’s bare soles were already wet from the little droplets of rain that fell the previous day. It’s not called a “rainforest” for no reason, after all. That name’s gotta come from somewhere. And judging by how deep the water was in the collection bucket, they had plenty of (filtered) rainwater to drink for several days. Cha-CHING!  
  
“Karza?” she asked softly.  
  
“What? Oh, sorry,” he said. He took a deep breath and sighed. “It happened when I was younger,” he said. “I was just starting out as a jungle boy when I heard some strange sounds. I went to investigate and found those ruins. So, I stepped onto that thing, and the next thing I knew, I had woken up in front of the village.”  
  
Julie was taken aback. “What?” she asked. “What happened?”  
  
Karza shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “Kame did say that I was acting strange and I must have been fighting it. He and Manti told me the place was cursed.”  
  
“Probably to protect you,” she said. “Pretty bad way of doing it, if you ask me.”  
  
“You think so?” he asked.  
  
“Yeah, and I’ll give Kame a piece of my mind for that,” she said, making him laugh. “So, are you ready to face your fears?”  
  
“There’s only one way to find out,” he said. “I’ll go and see if anything will happen at the ruins. What about you?”  
  
“I think I’ll stay here and train with the sword,” she said.  
  
He turned around and held his mate tightly, while grunting like an ape. She smiled and grunted back before kissing him. He then proceeded to walk out and grab a vine before swinging off. He landed on the tree branch in a three-point primal stance and jumped along the branches quickly, but carefully.  
  
Though he still had that nervous knot in his throat, he breathed deeply through his nose each time that memory of the incident popped back into his head. He didn’t want to suppress it, but he wanted to get past it. Suppressing his fear wasn’t going to help, especially since he’s been avoiding the place for at least five years.  
  
It took a half hour, even though he was pretty quick through the trees, to reach the ruins. He landed in one of the trees, crouched down and surveyed the ruins from the branch. His grip tightened on the branch and his lips pursed and tightened. But there was no going back now. He’d come all this way to get over his discomfort with the ruins, he wasn’t about to back away just yet.  
  
He jumped and landed in a primal stance. By now it was habit, after trying so many times before to do it, it was practically second nature to him. And then he stood, stretching himself out and psyching himself up to enter the ruins.  
  
But his apprehensiveness stopped him before he set foot on the steps. He cursed himself for cowardice, and then took another breath. He was fine, he could do this! You’re a modern-day Tarzan, what are you afraid of!?  
  
He closed his eyes, clenched his fists, stomped his foot on the stone steps and—  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
He opened his eye. He took his foot off the step and did it again. Once again, nothing.  
  
He took his foot off the step and squatted down, scratching his head. This was strange. Last time he did this, he instantly blacked out.  
  
Obviously, the situation was different now. And he had absolutely no answer for it. But hey! Nothing was happening!  
  
He shrugged and jumped onto the ruins.  
  
He was fine! “What the hell was I afraid of?” he asked himself.  
  
With no problems, he decided to explore the ruins as well.  
  
The ruins were covered in moss and other bits of debris. Some of the rocks had crumbled and were littered all over the street, if he could call it that. It may not exactly be a city, but the equivalent of a small town or village, at least that’s what he was thinking.  
  
What he wasn’t thinking about much was how this place was abandoned. Julie, being an archaeologist/anthropologist, enlightened him on the ways a city or town may be abandoned, or civilizations collapse. Usually, it was mundane reasons, like a lack of resources, climate change or the economic backbone drying up.  
  
But according to the rubbings Julie made, that wasn’t the case. And once he found the rock in question, he squatted down to examine it.  
  
It still hadn’t changed, and it told the same story Julie had told him about. The Jungle Dude brushed the moss that had grown since Julie came, off of the rock. There was that dark messianic figure Julie seemed to notice, and just like with her, he could feel a chill down his spine when he got a look at the guy. Yeah, he didn’t think this was a good person, what with all the worshipping those folks were doing in the carvings.  
  
Okay, he could handle the ruins. But the carvings sent chills down his spine like one of Kame’s horror stories. He decided he didn’t want to spend any more time here. Yes, he’d gotten over his fear, but something was creeping him out—  
  
NO!  
  
He was going to stay. He still had more to explore.  
  
He did get away from the rock and kept exploring. There wasn’t a whole lot to see, ruins are, well, ruined. Whatever evidence of who lived here there was, was probably gone, either buried under the dirt or taken away by scavengers. Not human scavengers, unless there were some grave-robbers around here, but actual animal scavengers.  
  
He came across another stone carving, this time like a statue. It resembled some old Southeast Asian carving he’d seen in some of Julie’s archaeology books at places like Angor Wat or other places. But this one was of a human, not an animal. And just like that other stone carving, it had a creepy smile spread across its face.  
  
And Karza again felt a chill to the bone.  
  
He began to realize that there was probably a reason this place was abandoned. Just what it was should remain a mystery, although he guess correctly that Julie would probably disagree, and she’d probably try to unravel its mystery.  
  
Curiosity killed the cat, but it was why Karza loved Julie.  
  
He stood up straight and turned away from the creepy statue. He wasn’t going to let his fear rule him. He was Tarzan’s real-life successor for crying out loud! It’s one thing to be scared (which is understandable), but it’s another to let fear control him.  
  
He pushed the statue on its side and it broke into itty-bitty pieces.  
  
:-:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
It’s pretty safe and correct to assume that Julie, despite wanting a sword, was pretty unfamiliar with one. Sure, she’d used a machete before, and those technically aren’t much different from swords, but when you consider that swords have a completely different weight and whatnot. Anyone can use a sword, but they need practice. You don’t just pick one up and become a master just by swinging it around for two or three minutes, it takes years, sometimes decades before one can be proficient with a sword.  
  
But it never hurts to practice, and she’d been practicing for a while now. She already had some of the aforementioned machete experience earlier, so she used some of those hacks. It was through this that she got the hang of using the sword. Turns out the machete and this particular sword weren’t so different, after all.  
  
Her swinging was wild at first, but once she got the hang of it those swings became more precise. Well, about as precise as they could get for a newbie, once she started using two hands. Then it became easier. The researcher who made it did provide her with a handy book that she could use as reference.  
  
Her bare feet gave her good grip on the wood and helped her get used to the stances and footwork, developing the muscles she would need. She also did this while studying her martial arts back in the day. And the author, who took karate for four years, did so as well.  
  
Eventually, those old martial arts habits began to creep into her footwork, and made it a bit easier to do. There was still the swinging and striking part, but she was getting used to it.  
  
She couldn’t wait to use it.  
  
The HAM radio, which was just steps from her, squelched, making her jump a little bit. She didn’t appreciate that one bit.  
  
“ _SciTeam, calling Jungle Girl, SciTeam calling Jungle Girl_  ,” came the voice on the other end of the radio. Julie jumped to the HAM radio, right next to a pair of bows and an M14 rifle. She picked up the receiver and said,  
  
“SciTeam, this is Jungle Girl, go ahead, over.”  
  
“ _How are you today, Jungle Girl? Over,_ ” the voice of Gina Robinson, the Kiwi leader of the expedition asked.  
  
“Doing good,” said Julie. “What about you, over?”  
  
“ _Doing good as well,_ ” said Gina. “ _Unfortunately, we have a bad situation here, over._ ”  
  
“What kind of situation, over?”  
  
“ _One of our guards by the name of Tim went out on a trek a week ago,_ ” said Gina. “ _He hasn’t come back. We haven’t heard from him at all, it’s like he just disappeared, over._ ”  
  
“Have you looked for him, over?”  
  
“ _We tried,_ ” said Gina. “ _We couldn’t find him, over._ ”  
  
This was strange. “Are you sure?”  
  
“ _Admittedly, this is a big island,_ ” said Gina. “ _We didn’t think it was going to be easy to begin with._ ” Good point. Searches for missing persons are never easy. Some can go on for years. “ _We don’t really know where his last coordinates are._ ”  
  
“So you’re flying blind,” Julie said.  
  
“ _Bingo,_ ” said Gina. Julie wasn’t asking. She was confirming. All the team knew was that they had a missing guard, and no way of figuring out where he might have gone.  
  
This was a mighty fine situation.  
  
“Do you know where he last was?” she asked.  
  
“ _We suspect he may be at least 3 clicks from your treehouse,_ ” said Gina. “ _We can’t pinpoint his location other than that. Something must be interfering with his GPS._ ”  
  
Julie sighed. She wondered how they could have such difficulty finding him. “ _However, we’ve got word from the Teo, who got word from the Paea,_ ” Gina said. “ _Apparently, there’s a group or cult out there following a paleman into the jungle. They say they’re at some stone ruins._ ”  
  
“Karza already went to the ruins,” said Julie.  
  
“ _Not those ruins,_ ” said Gina.  
  
“What?”  
  
“ _We sent a drone over the canopy,_ ” said Gina. “ _We found two ruins from the air. The ruins you told us about are half a kilometer from your location. The other is a full kilometer._ ”  
  
NOW we were getting somewhere! “What’s the location?” Julie asked.  
  
She could hear discussions on the other end. Gina and another team member could be heard on the other end discussing about something. “ _Alright Julie, listen carefully,_ ” said Gina. “ _This is what the drone’s GPS locator said._ ”  
  
Gina slowly gave Julie the coordinates and Julie jotted them down on rice paper. When they were done, she smacked the pencil down on the page. “Got it!”  
  
“ _Go get ‘em, Jungle Girl,_ ” said Gina. “ _SciTeam out._ ”  
  
“Jungle girl out,” said Julie.  
  
With the coordinates, she looked on the map and found it was indeed a bit farther from the ruins Karza went to. She would have to make a visit.  
  
Knowing Karza might come back before she does, she wrote a note down telling him that she was headed out for those other ruins and place it in the front entrance for Karza to see. Also, anticipating a long trek and watch, she took a utility belt that she filled with a bottle of filtered rainwater, some nuts she and Karza gathered, cheese, fish jerky, light binoculars, a mini-camera, a compass and a GPS device. She also donned some sunscreen, tied her hair back into a ponytail and grabbed a machete, just in case. She also looked in the mirror, smirking to herself at how good, prepped and badass she looked.  
  
She ran out of the treehouse, grabbed a vine and swung away towards the second ruins.  
  
Along the way, she passed by Karza, the two high-fiving each other as they passed each other on the vines. Other than that, her journey was solitary and saw her landing on a couple tree limbs every now and then to rest and get a drink or bite. She also checked her bearings on occasion, making sure she was going in the right direction.  
  
When she found out she wasn’t at one point, she altered her course and jumped along the branches—the thick branches, that is, the ones that could hold a jungle girl  _and_  a jungle dude. This turned out to be a good decision, as she saw that her trip was not only faster, but she was getting closer to the destination. It would only be a matter of time until she reached it.  
  
And when the grey-stone color of the ruins came into view, she smiled. She found a branch with a great view of the ruins and settled in out of view of the people there and chewed on some nuts.  
  
The place was crawling with people. They were rebuilding the site, adding wooden steaks to the stone buildings. A smell of cooking meat and nuts wafted from the site, and it made Julie want to eat her jerky. A few people walked in and out. They looked like guards. Just the fact that they were armed with spears was enough of a sign.  
  
She took her binoculars out from her utility belt. She scanned left and right, seeing people planting crops and raising livestock. From the outside they were living ordinary lives. Of course, appearances can be deceiving. She couldn’t reach a conclusion until she saw all the evidence and analyzed it. For now, she would take a couple pictures with the spycam.  
  
She squatted in a two-point primal stance on the branch and waited, watching like a sniper for what seemed like hours. A good predator or sniper waits until their prey has dropped their guard to strike. Running in right now would be rash and a bad idea in so many ways. She was fine with munching on fish jerky, nuts and cheese. Also, that water bottle that she clipped to her belt was pretty refreshing.  
  
After a while, she noticed some more people coming out of the ruins. They were armed. Their apparent commander shouted orders and they started going through training exercises. She put the fish jerky strip she’d just pulled out back in the utility belt and snapped a couple photos.  
  
She detected a pattern with the guards. Theywould change every ten minutes and that usually meant at least one entrance was left unguarded and blind. She would wait until she could sneak in through the closest entrance—which was right across from her—and let her jungle girl hiding skills do the rest.  
  
MAN, she loved being a jungle girl!  
  
The sun peeked through the clouds as it got closer to mid-day. She watched the pattern: The entrance guards would change in a clockwise formation, and indeed, it was every 10 minutes. After nearly two hours of waiting, the guard changed at the entrance just to her right.  
  
By now, she had shifted her position so that she was sitting upright on the branch and still munching on her rations of nuts, cheese and fish jerky. She did have to take care of her… business (and because bodily functions, while still vital, are gross and thus not important to the plot) earlier.  
  
She licked her lips in anticipation, waiting until she could jump. When the guard finally left, she instantly jumped out of the tree, landed in a four-point primal stance and dashed into the ruins, hiding in a little crook/nanny right as the guard took his post.  
  
She was in!  
  
The  _Mission: Impossible_  theme played in her head while she crept through the ruins. Whenever someone came close, she ducked into the crooks to wait. She carefully made her way through, nearing the center of the ruins where she was sure she would find her target. She almost got caught a couple times, but this is  _almost_  we’re talking about.  
  
And once she did, she settled into a little space to watch what was going on.  
  
Someone was erecting a statue of a man with a creepy, toothy grin on his face. Even in stone, it gave her the creeps. This guy must’ve been seriously creepy if he could do that. Biting her lips, she looked around. People were crawling up to and revering the statue. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were worshipping it. Whoever this guy was, he was definitely a cult leader.  
  
A murmur began to spread through the crowd. Again, you don’t need to be a Sherlock-level genius to figure out that the big boss was on his way.  
  
Two naked white guys ( _Really?_  she thought) stepped up to the podium. If there was ever some jackass taking advantage of the shitty “Mighty Whitey” trope it might as well be the guy with the toothy grin whom everyone was worshipping.  
  
And the one to his right (her left) made her blood boil.  
  
It was the poacher she shot a week ago. How was he still alive? Her question would be answered when she saw the toothy-grinning dude touching some man and… healing him?  
  
Definitely going with some sort of Antichrist thingamabob here. Even if the islanders, who were sadly hypnotized by this obvious con man, probably didn’t know who the hell Jesus was. And judging by the looks of them, they came from the Village of Exiles. Sadly, prime targets for any would-be cult leader.  
  
But she wouldn’t get to watch for much longer.  
  
She’d been so focused on her objective that she forgot to find another hiding spot. Two men wearing Paea tattoos spotted her and snuck up behind her. Before Julie realized it, one of them clamped his hand over her mouth and the other grabbed her.  
  
But she fought back, elbowing the man behind her, right in the nose, judging by how her blow felt. She whacked the other one in the face, and, letting instincts take over, leapt up onto the roof of an intact building.  
  
And she was spotted.  
  
“Fuck,” she groaned.  
  
“It’s that jungle bitch who shot me! GET HER!” the should-be-dead poacher shouted.  
  
“SAY CHEESE!” Julie said as she snapped a picture of the apparent leader. She immediately turned and ran, jumping over the rooftops like a newbie parkour practitioner. Several warriors gave chase, throwing spears and shooting arrows. But they could not get a lock on her.  
  
She maneuvered through the ruins until she reached the exit. The two guards pointed their spears at her. They shouted at her. She drew her machete and chopped the spear points off, then pushed them out of the way before she made into the trees.  
  
Now she had the advantage.  
  
“HOW COULD YOU FUCKING LET HER ESCAPE!?” Phillip screamed. “Forget it! AFTER HER!” more warriors gave chase as Phillip grabbed his bald head and tried to rip out whatever tiny little strands he had left. He could still remember the agony of those arrows in his back and chest; he removed the back one, but the one in his chest was the worst. And it was because of RF that he was still alive.  
  
And now she’d gotten to him again.  
  
“What’s this about, Phillip?” RF asked as he walked up to him.  
  
“THAT’S THE BITCH WHO SHOT ME!” Phillip screamed.  
  
“Oh, right,” said RF. “Think you can catch her?”  
  
Julie ran through the trees as the warriors gave chase. She climbed up and up, reaching the taller branches that could still support her weight while chopping leaves off that—  
  
“FUCK ME!” she growled. She realized that whacking them with her machete was only going to give her a trail. So she sheathed her machete and—“Oh, FUCK!” She mis-sheathed the machete and helplessly watched it plummet to the ground.  
  
Needless to say, she didn’t have time to mourn its loss. Instead, she reached for her water bottle and took a sip, because the heat, humidity and exertion were taking a toll on her. Good thing she ate all that protein!  
  
As she reached a thin section of trees, she could hear the warriors closing in. But the area also had a few vines. She climbed up onto a branch, ran forward, jumped and grabbed one of the vines. Yelling like Tarzan, she swung through the clearing as arrows and spears whizzed past her. She finally landed on another branch and pushed on.  
  
By now, the enemy warriors were losing her, but that didn’t matter. She was sure they were not going to stop looking for her.  
  
So she stopped and waited for some of the warriors to come by. And when they did, she cupped her ear so she could hear them.  
  
“I can’t find any trace of her,” said one of her pursuers.  
  
“Are you sure?”  
  
“She ran into the trees, how am I supposed to track her?”  
  
“LOOK FOR HER!”  
  
“HOW!?”  
  
The warrior groaned in frustration. The poacher followed soon after, along with the apparent leader, as the two warriors knelt before him. “Did you let her get away?” the poacher asked.  
  
“She got away, but we didn’t let her,” said the warrior.  
  
“She knows too much,” said the poacher. “We need to catch her!”  
  
“What does she know?” the apparent leader asked. Julie snapped a couple more pictures.  
  
“I don’t know,” said Phillip. “We do have her machete, though.”  
  
The poacher handed Julie’s machete to the apparent leader, which made her groan. The leader just touched the machete and said, “I know where she lives. That way.” He pointed in the direction Julie was headed. She felt a jolt shoot through her skin as the poacher nodded. “Get them ready, we attack in an hour.”  
  
That was enough for Julie and she took off back towards the treehouse.  
  
She was tired, hyperventilating and soaked with sweat when she finally reached the treehouse as she barged in and hugged Karza tightly. “Julie, what’s going on!?” he said.  
  
Julie quickly and frantically explained what had happened. “And then, they chased me, and I had to run, and they’re coming in an hour!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karza would have to face his fears eventually. Even if the place creeped the hell out of him, and it's understandable that it would.
> 
> I'm actually pretty satisfied with this chapter. Not only is it the longest so far (nine pages!) I feel it's pretty comprehensive about Julie and Karza's life in the jungle--like what they eat or drink.
> 
> And another action chapter is coming up! Stay tuned!


	7. The Attack

An hour was long enough for them to prepare.

While Karza radioed for help, Julie washed up, shampooed, recharged, braided her hair and taped up her knuckles, wrists and feet. She watched him while she bit off part of the wrappings, trying to see if the researchers or Teo could send reinforcements. So far, no luck.

Until the Teo and researchers could get those reinforcements out to the treehouse, they were on their own.

“Well?” she asked, hoping for more specifics.

“The researchers are going to try and send some help,” said Karza. “But it might take them half an hour to get through the jungle. And we have… fuck. Twenty minutes until our guests arrive.”

“What about the Teo?” Julie asked.

“Kame said he was going to send some warriors,” said Karza. “Hopefully they’ll get here soon.”

What followed was science. Karza stood and looked into her eyes, and she did the same. Though they showed steely expressions on the outside, gazing into each other’s eyes, they could see the fear and anxiety about the situation clearly. And at which point, they had a conversation with their eyes and body language alone.

Karza rubbed his arm, and Julie touched his other arm. He smiled to her, a smile that warmed her heart and made her smile back to him. Looking into his eyes—which didn’t require her to crane her neck up, since he wasn’t much taller than her, maybe just a couple of degrees—her expression turned into one of subtle defiance and determination, a silent vow that she would fight alongside him through whatever and they would meet it head on. They did love each other, and like the best lovers, they would support each other. And in the vein of other great badass battle couples like Arthur and Guinevere, Korra and Asami, Aang and Katara, Sean O’Callahan and Maria Aparicio, and _yes_ , Tarzan and Jane, they would kick some ass today. And they affirmed that with at tender, loving kiss.

The mists and fog had cleared by now, replaced by a deceptively blue sky that masked the storm that was about to begin. The two picked up their bows and took their positions. Karza went to the roof, Julie went to the front porch.

There’s a phrase, “the tension was so thick you can cut it with a knife”. Well, that phrase has been used over and over again. But then again, there’s a reason people say that, and because it perfectly describes the tension in any situation, like right here and right now with our Jungle Couple. Knowing that someone was coming to possibly _kill them_  was already hard. It was the waiting that was even worse.

She tapped her foot on the wood, biting her lip and fingering the arrow she held in her right hand. Her fingers were starting to sweat, forcing her to adjust her grip every now and then. She look up and back at Karza peering out at the jungle with the pair of binoculars. “I don’t see anything yet!” he called.

She groaned, unaware that she was really itching for a fight.

“Julie, please, relax,” said Karza. “I can see you, you’re trembling.”

“I just want this over with,” she confessed.

“So do I,” he said.

They heard a conch shell blowing. They turned to see warriors emerging from the brush. They carried spears, clubs, shields, bows and spears. They were NOT Teo tribesman, at least not the ones the Jungle Couple asked for. They were the bad guys sent to kill them.

“Fuck,” he hissed. Julie raised her bow, drawing an arrow back. She did not release it. Maybe they’ll go away if they discourage them. After all, what possible reason would they have for attacking the Jungle Couple and inviting the wrath of not only the Teo tribe, but possibly the researchers and the Pele tribe. These guys wouldn’t last a day against them.

Karza walked over to an acoustic megaphone, cleared his throat and announced, “STOP RIGHT THERE!”

The invaders stopped. Some shuffling went on in the back, and someone came forward. It was the poacher Julie had shot last week. He grabbed an acoustic megaphone and shouted, “THERE you are, you little jungle bitch! Come down here and let me deal with you!”

Julie rolled her eyes. Instead, she cupped her hand to her ear and mouthed something. She gestured like she couldn’t hear him, punctuated by the middle finger.

“DON’T MOCK ME, YOU LITTLE WHORE!” Phillip shouted. “WHEN I GET DONE WITH YOU—”

“She shot you once, she can do it again!” Karza warned. She pointed the arrow at Phillip’s chest as a warning. “You really wanna try this?”

“GET DOWN HERE!”

“NO,” Karza replied. “We didn’t do anything! Why are you attacking us?”

“Just give us the girl!”

“Do you even HAVE an answer!?” Karza replied.

Phillip growled. And it was obvious to Karza he had none.

“Suit yourself,” Karza muttered. He nodded to Julie.

She released her arrow, and it missed Phillip, but zipped past his ear, landing just feet behind him. And he wasn’t happy about that, jumping several feet before realizing she missed on purpose. His hate and anger had clouded his judgement. He forgot that jungle girl could shoot, and the _bras d'honneur_ she gave him, combined with the middle finger, reminded him that not only was she not afraid of him, but she could still kill him.

“Archers!” he called out, raising his hand. The archers raised their bows in the air, aiming them at the Jungle Couple. “RELEASE!”

The Jungle Couple dove for cover, with Julie hiding behind the fence, and Karza diving out of the way. Julie stood back up, nocked an arrow and released. Karza followed suit. Karza’s arrow hit its target, Julie’s missed.

“RELEASE AT WILL!” Phillip ordered. A flurry of arrows flew at the Jungle Couple, they ducked inside to avoid all the arrows. They took turns standing up and shooting the invaders, hiding under the windows when they had to get another arrow. They had to release quickly, less the invaders hit them. A few arrows that whizzed right to their face, that they barely dodged, were enough of a reminder for that.

“Isn’t this overkill!?” Julie shouted.

“With our reputation?”

“They haven’t even heard of us!”

“Besides the poacher!”

 _That_  poacher prowled in between the archers, cursing and screaming at the Jungle Couple. “HOW COULD YOU MISS THEM!?” he shouted. His anger wasn’t getting any better, and a few times, he almost stepped right into the way of an arrow that could have hit him in the head if he wasn’t careful.

The Village of the Exiled may have been eager to follow RF, but that didn’t mean they were thrilled to be following Phillip. Quite frankly, this guy’s temper was getting the better of time. As such, another warrior stepped up and shouted orders the way a real commander would, and not some poacher coward.

And this allowed Julie and Karza to get back up to behind the porch, where they both kept releasing their arrows. They kept themselves small though, bent down and shooting through the fence and having to duck when they needed to.

But it was also getting clear that arrows weren’t enough. In the break in the arrows, Karza jumped back out onto the roof. “GET BACK HERE!” Julie screamed. But then Karza let loose a loud, proud and terrifying Tarzan-like call to the jungle.

“Oh, right,” she said.

Within seconds, the trees began to rustle. A flock of birds erupted from the lush green, descending on the warriors, who ran from their attackers, justifiably scared. Though Karza did learn this technique from old Tarzan movies, it was Kame who helped him perfect it, as the medicine man used to live in the wild and interacted with the animals himself for a couple years.

More wildlife attacked the warriors. Some bats—flying foxes, mainly—flew out of the trees, although the sun was probably hurting their eyes, just making things difficult for the warriors, getting in the way of the arrows, allowing Julie time to run out of the house, onto the porch and shoot the invaders once the bats were out of the way.

More animals came and attacked the invaders. Some of the native cats bounded out of the jungle, chasing the invaders away.

Phillip stood still amidst the chaos, gripping his head and mind about what to do, but all he could come up with was big flat zip. And when another warrior pushed him to the ground, he got the message: he was out as the leader.

With the new leader giving orders, the invaders recovered, chasing the cats away and shooting at any animal that came near them. He gathered up a group of archers and they released a volley, followed by another volley that pushed the Jungle Couple back into the treehouse and ducking under the windowsill.

Now things were getting desperate again. Julie and Karza ran back out onto the porch, letting more arrows fly. The invaders answered with another volley. A couple more animals leaped out of the jungle, taken down by invaders who kept their wits about them to shoot them. Julie began to get desperate.

And that M14 next to the HAM radio was looking mighty tempting. An arrow that whizzed past her head made her scramble back into the treehouse and grab the rifle, shoving a magazine into the weapon.

“YOU’RE GONNA USE THAT!?” Karza shouted. “I thought you hated—”

“You got any better ideas!?” Julie shouted, running back out and aiming the rifle at one of the invaders.

_BANG!_

The warrior she shot dropped like a sack of potatoes. No dramatic staggering, no falling backwards.

The arrows stopped flying. The invaders had a deer-in-the-headlights moment for a second and looked at each other. It’s safe to say none of them had ever seen or heard a rifle before.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Phillip shouted. “HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN A FUCKING GUN BEFORE!?”

“What is that!?” one of the invaders asked.

 _BANG! THWIP!_ A bullet landed right in front of Phillip, throwing dust around and making him jump. Two more shots came his way. He looked up and growled at Julie while saying something about how he didn’t know the jungle bitch could shoot.

Oh, she could shoot, but the recoil was hurting her jaw. It was going to be hard, but seeing the invaders all in disarray was a relief. They dragged the shot man away from the battlefield. And Julie had to look away.

No matter what, it’s always hard to know that you just killed someone.

Phillip stamped around and grabbed an invader’s bow and arrow, releasing one at Julie. The jungle girl ducked and shot back.

“YOU THERE! See the opening you have!?” Phillip shouted. He point to the tree, and at the blind spot underneath the porch.

The invaders rushed the tree trunk amidst Julie’s consistent shooting. But though a couple didn’t make it, a few got underneath the porch. “KARZA!” Julie shouted.

Karza ran over to the right side of the porch, aiming his arrow at one of the invaders and letting an arrow fly. The arrow missed. He grabbed his spear and one of the vines. Amidst Julie’s gunfire he jumped down, but held onto the vine as he got under the porch. The invaders were already trying to climb up the tree. Karza poked at them, one or two fell down, but they kept coming. He stabbed at them again and again. A couple more of them fell down. One tried to grab his spear. He shook it. The invader held on, and Karza finally kicked him in the forehead, and the invader fell to the ground.

Julie held the other invaders at bay, laying down some gunfire. But when she ran out of ammo, she had to run back into the house and grab a magazine—make that three—and ran back out to see more invaders rushing the tree. Where the hell were these guys coming from!?

Getting down on her stomach and aiming, she let off a couple warning shots that kicked up some dirt and grass in front of the invaders. Those invaders stopped in their tracks, an understandable reaction to having bullets kicking up dirt at your feet. They’re not “inferior” in any way, shape or form, but just unfamiliar with guns. It must be pretty scary when you come from a world without a weapon that can kill like a gun can. You honestly have no idea what to do.

It’s easy to fall into a sad mindset that these indigenous peoples are “inferior”, or funny because they’ve never seen a gun before. Given the proliferation of firearms in the modern world and their influence on modern culture and history, it’s easy to forget that guns have only been around for half a millennium. Just imagine the terror the Medieval European knight first felt when he faced down a gun barrel for the first time. He must have been confused, and once one of his comrades was cut down with this weapon, that confusion mixes with utter terror.

And that gave Karza and Julie a psychological advantage.

For despite how much Julie hated having to use the gun—as proven by her grimace every time she shot at an invader—they were fighting for their lives. Might as well use a couple dirty tricks.

Meanwhile. Karza kicked at an invader that had grabbed his vine and was climbing upwards. He swung the spear, whacking the invader in the face. “Sorry!” he said. He whacked at another invader. “I don’t like doing this either!” he said.

An invader grabbed his ankle. He shook the invader, the invader kept his hold on his ankle until another kick knocked him off. Karza had to climb back up the vine. He kept poking at the invaders, desperate to hold them off. They were starting to back away and dwindle in numbers, but his arms were getting tired both from fighting with the spear and from holding onto the vine. There was only so much he could do with this, that he feared he’d have to let go and—he forgot about the arrows, because one just whizzed by his head, but he swung out of the way just in the nick of time. He saw the guy who shot at him jump away from one of Julie’s gunshots.

If there were any more coming, they were in big trouble.

“What’s going on?” RF asked as he strode through the brush up to the battle scene.

“Those two are still holding out,” said one of his lieutenants.

“Those two?” RF asked. “What do you mean, ‘those two’?”

“It’s not just the girl,” said his lieutenant. “It’s some other man. I think it’s Karza.”

“Well I’ll be,” RF said to himself as he strode up into the small clearing near the Jungle Couple’s treehouse.

Karza had begun to climb back up to the porch when he looked and felt the same dread that plagued him for years. A paleman walked forward. The whole invading cohort stopped what they were doing and genuflected before him. Though Karza felt the pit in his stomach deepen, Julie got up on one knee and pointed the rifle at him.

“Take one more step and I shoot,” she said into the megaphone.

RF stopped, but he laughed and held out his hands. Phillip took his place beside RF, and Julie growled.

“What the hell are you doing with that scumbag poacher!?” she spat.

“He’s just a friend of mine,” said RF. “And we really wants to meet you.”

“FUCK OFF!”

RF couldn’t help but laugh even though Phillip was not amused one bit. “We’re looking for someone,” he said.

“If you think either me or Karza are surrendering, you’re dead wrong, pal,” she said.

Now RF smiled, and though Julie only caught a glimpse of it, she felt a chill and a shiver run down her spine. “Karza!” RF called. “So nice to see you again!”

“Who the hell are you!?” Karza replied.

“You don’t remember me?” RF asked. “Oh, such a shame. I of course, remember <i>you</i>.”

“Honey, what the fuck is he talking about?” Julie asked.

“I wish I knew too,” said Karza.

“Oh, this will make you remember,” RF said. His eyes flashed red. And Karza screamed, grabbing his head.

“KARZA!” Julie shouted, dropping the rifle, grabbing her mate and holding him close. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM, MOTHERFUCKER!?”

“It’s him!” Karza said. “It’s him! It’s the one from the ruins!”

“What?”

“Five years ago, your mate stepped foot onto my ruins,” said RF. “And for the first time, I finally had a body to inhabit that would be perfect for my magic.”

“WHO ARE YOU!?” Julie shouted.

“My name? Well, to put it simply, I’m a man of wealth and taste—”

“HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE ROLLING STONES!?”

RF laughed again and looked back at Phillip. “Let’s just say I have my ways,” he said. His eyes flashed red again and he disappeared.

Next thing Julie knew, she was looking at some naked white guy standing in front of her while she held onto Karza for dear life. She kicked him, but he seemed more amused at it than angry. “I like you,” he said. “I think I’ll save you for last.” He put his hand to her forehead and the next thing she knew, she flew back to the edge of the porch, grabbed onto said edge and held on for dear life.

“JULIE!” Karza screamed. RF grabbed Karza’s face. And now Karza could see the man’s horrific and terrifying smile up close. To say he was terrified would be an understatement.

“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you or your mind,” said RF. His eyes glowed red. Karza felt someone invading his mind, body and soul. He struggled against RF, but the man didn’t let go.

“ ** _KARZA!!!!_** ” Julie screamed helplessly and in agonized desperation and terror. She struggled to pull herself up to the porch, grabbing at one of the posts in the fence, but could only watch helplessly as Karza was invaded in all the wrong ways. “PLEASE! STOP!” she cried.

But it was no use. RF’s eyes stopped glowing and the body that he had been inhabiting collapsed. Karza’s body stood, stretched and sighed. “Now THIS is a body,” he said. It wasn’t Karza’s voice and when he turned around, it wasn’t Karza’s warm smile. It was the same horrific smile RF gave the both of them, and it caused tears to well up in her eyes.

“GIVE ME BACK MY MATE!” she screamed, pulling herself up and rushing forward, throwing a punch at Karza’s body, which grabbed her wrist before she had a chance.

“Sorry toots, but I’ve got something to take care of,” said RF. “Later!” He pushed Julie to the ground and with another blast from his hand, kept her on the ground as he jumped down.

Julie helplessly watched as the invaders walked away with Karza’s body leading the way.

Julie got up and screamed at the sky so loud that nearby birds flew out of their perches. Beneath her lay the remnants of the invading cohort, but she was alone, crying for the loss of the man she loved deeply—

There was groaning. The other guy was still alive!

Sniffing, she stood and rushed over to him, cradling the man in her arms. “Hey! HEY! Are you alright?” she asked.

“What happened?” the young man asked. “Where am I? Who are you? And why am I naked?”

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“It’s Tim,” he said. “I was on a trek from the research camp, and—“

“Wait, YOU’RE the one they’ve been looking for!” she said. “Hold on!” She grabbed Tim, held him up and helped him into the treehouse proper. Just seconds later, Teo tribe warriors emerged from the brush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, poor Julie. Just imagine what it must feel like to be the poor woman. 
> 
> Yes, this is an action chapter, but not the final confrontation. I already know the identity of RF, but there might be a little more to it. Either way, things are not looking up for the jungle couple.
> 
> Also, Sean and Maria are the main couple in my Power Rangers GPX universe. They're a badass battle couple who fell in love because of their mutual respect and admiration as superheroes. In case you haven't noticed, I have a thing for battle couples :D


	8. The Legend

“So this is what tea tastes like,” Kame remarked after taking a sip of the stuff. “I like it—” His attempt to lighten the mood in front of Julie had failed miserably.

She sat in her chair, a thousand-yard stare on her face. Though she was responsive, the shock of seeing Karza possessed by some kind of evil spirit right out of one of his stories must have been a shock to her system. And granted, he understood that she probably would recover from that shock in such a short amount of time, but seeing this woman, who thought of herself as strong and independent, in such a sad state was depressing.

But he also understood that he would probably feel the same way if he was in her situation.

The medicine man walked over to her, took her hand and led her away from the chair so they could both sit on the floor cross-legged (or “Indian style”, even though Native comedians have made a killing parodying that whole idea) across from each other.

He knew there was not much he could say to her to get her to feel better. He could not apologize, because not only was it not really his fault (at least directly), but it wouldn’t help. He couldn’t promise to get Karza back, because he knew she would doubt them. And he knew that he couldn’t say he knew this was coming, because she would lash out at him. He had no real way of getting her to cheer up, and the only course of action would be honesty, simple as that.

“I should have known this could happen,” he said.

“Then why didn’t you do anything?” Julie asked.

“There are many reasons, but sadly, I believe you would consider them all to be mere excuses and not genuine reasons,” he said. “There are a lot of things in my life that I should have seen coming, but I did not. And when they happened, I was caught off guard before I realized I should have done something.

“But the past is in the past, and there is not much I can do about it in the future,” he continued. “It is far too easy to feel sorry for yourself in a situation like this.”

Julie sniffed. She had been crying for a while now, so much so that she looked about ready to fall asleep. Kame snapped his fingers in front of her a couple of times to get her attention. It worked.

“Concentrate,” he said. “Are you alright?”

“Alright?” she asked. “My boyfriend just got possess by something right out of a fucking Stephen King book and I don’t even know what’s going to happen to him! I’M JUST FINE AND DANDY!”

She was still Julie.

“Glad to know you’re still you,” Manti chuckled, drinking some of the tea he made. “I saw the etchings you made at the ruins. What possessed you to go there?”

“I was curious,” she replied.

“Ah,” said Kame.

“Is that bad?”

“Coming from you? Absolutely not,” he replied.

“I guess,” she said sadly.

“Look, I don’t expect you to feel better this instant,” said Kame. “I can understand. I remember once when my daughter was kidnapped by a renegade band of Paea warriors; I was so despondent, my wife got sick worrying over _me_ and not our daughter. Thanks to the Gods and the Spirits she was found alright.”

Julie huffed.

“If you’re going to do nothing but feel sorry for yourself, then why don’t you just give up?” he snapped. “You CANNOT let this affect you so much! You told me once that if Karza did die, you would move on, did you not?”

Though Julie nodded, it wasn’t much. But, Kame decided it was time to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And it started with the obvious. “Karza is still in there.”

She immediately perked up. Kame eye-gestured over to Tim, who had a blanket thrown over his shoulders and sipping some tea as well.

Julie also looked over at him, and the realization hit her. “What do you know?” she asked.

“Do you know those etchings you made?” Kame asked. He snapped his fingers, pointing to his apprentice and to the etchings Julie had on the HAM radio, and the apprentice gladly retrieved them. “Last week I felt something horrible. Yes, I should have warned you, and it is my fault for not doing so. But looking at these etchings, I think I can honestly tell you the truth.”

“What can you tell me?” she asked.

Kame held the etchings up and pointed at the man. “This is the Spirit of the Ruins,” he said. “Whether or not he is the ruins personified or just a sorcerer depends on how you look at it. After all, words can have multiple meanings. ‘Spirit of the Ruins’ can have a different meaning from ‘spirit of the ruins’.”

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” she said.

“He is… well, it’s hard to describe,” he said. “You see, a long time ago, the ruins were inhabited. A man, we do not know who he is, appeared one day to the people living in the ruins. Using his abilities—magic, healing and other such abilities, he drew people to him like insects to a campfire. He healed the sick, turned leaves into birds and displayed incredible powers.

“But as his influence grew, his attentions turned elsewhere. Our ancestors, who we believe had arrived on our island before then, learned of the man, and in haste, they attacked. But the man and his followers counter-attacked and nearly destroyed our ancestors.” Kame took a deep breath. The medicine man rubbed his face.

“Had it not been for more of our ancestors landing on these shores and also launching a counterattack, I fear what might have happened. In the end, the sorcerer was destroyed. But before he died, he swore that he would come back and possess the body of anyone who dared step foot on any of his ruins.”

“And Karza stepped foot on those ruins five years ago,” said Julie.

“Correct,” said Kame. He took a deep breath and sighed. “He came to the village wearing that same menacing smile you see on these pictures. Immediately, I recognized that he was not being himself and I quickly got to work trying to find out what was going on. I did not want to believe it at first, but it turned out he was indeed being possessed. I got to work on the exorcism in haste. It was not easy, but eventually, the sorcerer’s spirit was exorcised from Karza. I only wish I had found a creature to seal the spirit in.”

“How did you know about the sorcerer?” she asked.

“It was so important that we remember it that we invented our writing style in order to write about the horror we faced,” said Kame. “I still have the old tablets in my hut, and I rarely let them out of my sight. That is why we also said the ruins are cursed, so that no one need suffer the way Karza did.”

“So what should we do?”

“Exorcism is tricky,” said Kame. “The exorcisms you tell me about, that involve physical abuse, are not how I do things. My exorcisms are spiritual.”

“Meaning?”

“I do not physically hurt my exorcism subjects,” he said. “Of course, I understand that where you come from, exorcism is… mocked, to say the least.”

Julie nodded. The so-called “exorcists” that she was more familiar with were religious hucksters who tricked poor gullible saps into throwing their money at these conmen who wouldn’t be held accountable if the person undergoing the exorcism was injured or died, when the only thing they may have needed was a trip to the doctor, either a physician or a shrink. Julie clenched her fist, reinforcing her beliefs on this subject to Kame.

Didn’t mean _The Exorcist_ didn’t totally scare the bejeesus out of her!

Of course, _The Exorcist_ is just a movie, and a really good one, too, and its only purpose is to entertain by scaring the crap out of anyone who sees it.

In this situation, judging by her expression, Julie would be willing to make an exception for her disdain of exorcism and so-called “exorcists”.

“Are you sure he’s still in there?” she asked, just to be sure.

Kame turned and pointed at Tim before standing up and leading him to Julie, sitting him down next to the palewoman.

“Hi,” said Julie. “You’re Tim, right?”

“Right,” he said.

“What happened?”

“I, I don’t know,” Tim replied. “I was in the brush and I came about these ruins, and this one bald guy came up to me and he’s like, ‘I need help’ and so I—”

“Hey, take it easy,” she said, grabbing his shoulder. “I got the first part, just slow down. What happened?”

“So this bald guy leads me onto the ruins,” he continued. “And then this guy who smells like a walking corpse walked up to me and… I don’t remember anything else.”

“Karza blacked out too,” Kame said after Julie finished translating Tim’s story. “That is something in common.”

“And he set up at the second ruins,” said Julie.

“There’s two?” he asked. Julie nodded. “I was not aware of that.”

The implications were obvious to all of them, and that was where Karza, or at least his body, would be. Would he have gone to the ones he went to first? Or the ones deeper into the jungle?

“I think he went to the second one,” said Julie. “When I went there, I saw that they’d already rebuilt some of the ruins out of wood.”

“We could still check the old ruins,” said Kame. “We will organize a search party—no, a war band. First, we will inspect the first ruins. If there is nothing, then move on. After that, we attack!”

“Or, we could save some time,” said Julie. “I have my ways.”

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

When Karza—or at least, his possessed body—arrived at the second ruins, the Exiled Villagers ran up to him as if they recognized his presence. Given the way he held himself, what with the creepy, almost-demonic (but not actually demonic, since the sorcerer in question is human), it’s not hard to assume that Karza the Jungle Dude was not in control of his own body, but their so-called savior was.

His grin widened as the masses bowed to him and led him, Phillip and the returning attackers into the ruins. If Karza were not possessed by the spirit of some antichrist-like sorcerer, this situation would certainly look pretty suspicious, what with the Polynesian natives bowing before an athletic white dude like a god and the white guy soaking it up. Luckily, the real Karza does not consider himself a god, nor is he worshipped like one, instead treated like a member of the tribe.

And Phillip, being the OTHER white guy, could see the implications of Polynesian tribesmen bowing before the white guy. And yes, it made him uncomfortable, too.

“Am I the only one NOT creeped out how these guys are worshipping a white guy?” he asked.

“I’m not white,” RF replied. “Well, not in my original body, of course.”

Phillip wanted to ask, but at this point, he’d seen enough crazy shit to stop caring so much. “Forget it, just roll with it for now,” he said to himself.

RF-in-Karza’s body made his way to the center of the ruins, where he stood on a makeshift podium. Everyone else gathered around him, including Phillip, who stood beside him like a faithful lieutenant, despite the mess he almost got himself into. He’s lucky his boss showed up to take over Karza’s body.

Speaking of which, Phillip wanted to talk to RF about Julie, but that would have to wait.

“Friends!” RF said. “I have returned in the body of the man you know as Karza. Tell me something, and be honest: Has he done anything for you?”

The crowd responded with a chorus of “no” and blame at the Jungle Dude’s body as if he was an effigy. “HE’S JUST A PUPPET OF MANTI!” one shouted out.

“And Manti, what about him?” RF asked. “The high-and-mighty chief of the Teo? Where was he when you needed him? Sitting around, making sure his little fishermen weren’t bothered!” The crowd returned the jeers. “He says he has important work to do, but did he ever so much as TRY to help you?”

“ _NO!_ ” the crowd roared.

“And what about Kamemeha, Chief of the Pele?” RF continued. “What has he done?”

“HE CAST US OUT!” one called back.

“And so did Manti! As did Kawa, of the—oh wait, he’s dead. Right, forgot about that. Anyway, how do you feel about them?”

A chorus of curses and bloodthirsty threats were thrown in RF’s direction. RF smiled in his horrendous way, holding his hands out. “And what about the palemen?”

And now the chorus was louder. They angrily spat loads of vitriol in the direction of the outsiders who dared to tread on their lands. They must be dealt with!, they all concurred. Soon, the vitriol got worse, and threats towards them, blaming them for all the island’s ills. “What must be done with them?” RF called.

“LET’S SLAUGHTER THEM!!!” one shouted. “SUB-HUMAN SAVAGES!!!”

The crowd had been whipped into a frenzy, and RF kept whipping this frenzy. Phillip jerked his head from side-to-side, clenching his fist, biting his lip and his eyes darting in between the froth-mouthed Exiled.

“Well, NO MORE!” RF declared. “It’s time for you to take back what is rightfully yours! Release your anger at those who have wronged you! You WILL take back what is yours! FOLLOW ME and I shall lead you to GLORY!”

The Exiled cheered and chanted to RF. He held his hands out, laughing. “We shall take the Pele, first! Then the Teo, and then the palemen!” he said.

“What about the girl?” Phillip whispered in his ear when RF jumped down to the ground.

“Don’t worry about her,” RF replied. “She’ll be taken care of.”

Above them, a drone stayed in stationary flight, watching them move out to the village of the Pele.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

“That’s not good,” Gina said as she watched the scene unfold on her iPad.

“Which way are they going?” Julie asked.

“I don’t know,” said Gina. “Looks like they’re going north.”

“The Pele,” Manti said when he heard Julie’s translation. “And by the way, how were they able to capture their voices like that? And from such a distance?”

“Don’t ask,” Julie replied. “Even I don’t know.”

“Well, it does not matter,” said Manti. “The Pele are our allies. We will need to warn them.”

“How?” Gina asked.

“I will send a messenger hawk to Chief Kawa,” said Manti. “In the meantime, Julie; I want you and the paleman ‘Tim’ to follow me to help our allies.”

“Yes, sir!” Julie replied, bowing. See, this is the difference between your standard jungle hero and Julie and Karza: Julie follows the chief, not the other way around.

“Are you sure about this?” Gina asked.

“Gina, I have to,” she replied. Looking into her eyes, Gina could see the fire burning.

“Um, Julie, what did he say?” a still-naked Tim asked.

“You know how to use a baseball bat?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah, why?” Tim asked.

“He’ll be perfect!”

“Actually, I think it would be a good idea of some of the researchers come along,” said Gina.

“Well, Manti?” Julie asked.

“Judging by his rhetoric, I agree that it would be in the best interests of the palemen if they come along,” said Manti. “But they are NOT to be a part of the main unit.”

“Gladly,” said Gina.

“When do we move out?” Julie asked.

“After we prepare,” said Manti. “We can make it to the Pele village before the enemy does.”

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

End chapter


	9. The Calm Before the Storm

“I’m the walkin’ dude! I can see all of the world! Twist your minds with fear! I’m the man with the pow-wer, AMONG! THE! LIVING! Follow me or die!”

“Tim, what IS that song?” Julie asked while she ran at a brisk pace next to Tim.

“Oh, it’s ‘Among the Living’, by Anthrax!” Tim replied. “You’ve never heard of them?”

“Uh, I don’t really listen to…”

“Metal; thrash metal.”

“Yeah, don’t think so,” she replied.

They, along with the Teo Tribe warriors, ran along a trail through the brush, a short-cut the Teo and Pele tribes have used to move back and forth between their respective villages. It was primarily used for trade and migration; Teo and Pele individuals often inter-married, although given that they are from the same island, “intermarriage” may be a little subjective, but still.

Also, to say the Pele and Teo are allies might be an understatement. According to lore from both tribes, they were founded by twins. One twin founded the Teo, the other founded the Pele. Of course, the oral tradition is still not the most reliable source, and since Teo writing is only used for business and was not used for recording history until about 200 years ago, who knows what might have happened?

Julie carried the sword with her, strapped to her waist along with the utility belt, and a shield strapped to her back. Temporary tattoos were painted onto her body, making her much like the other Teo warriors, although she still had the braid. Her knuckles, ankles, and part of her feet were taped up in brown-colored wrappings.

The rest of the warriors also wore warpaint, as did Tim, who also had to wear one of Karza’s surplus loincloths.

“Feels kinda breezy,” he remarked.

Julie laughed. “You get used to it.”

“The Village of the Exiled,” Manti remarked. “I should have known. But why them?”

“It’s simple, really,” Julie replied. “And it’s not really their fault.”

“How?” Manti asked.

“One of my professors at Berkeley said that hardship creates a climate friendly to tyrants,” Julie replied. “It’s not their fault, they’re being manipulated by a wannabe dictator. They promise to take the little guy under their wing, protect them and make things better for them, while blaming people for the society’s ‘ills’. I’ve seen it a million times.”

“But why?” Manti asked. “How could he turn them against others so easily?”

“They’ve been suckered,” Julie replied. “He blamed their ills on the Other Guy, and on the leaders who failed to do anything, even if it is kinda true.”

“I suppose I should take responsibility?” Manti asked.

“Well, I don’t know what you did, but I guess it might be a good idea,” she said. “But if we’re going to stand up to this guy, we should be a united front, because guys like RF want a divided population to make it easier to rule.”

“Kinda seems strange we’re taking warriors, though,” said Tim.

“We need a show of force,” said Manti.

“Well, Teddy Roosevelt, a former leader of my people, once said ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’,” said Julie.

“What does that mean?” Manti asked.

“It means saying that you want peace, but you’ll fight if you have to,” said Julie.

“What about the trail?” Tim asked.

“Manti says it cuts right through the jungle in a straight line,” said Julie. “It’ll get us to the Pele village long before…” When she stopped, Tim could tell what she was thinking. It wasn’t some obscure reason, it was Karza. She seemed resigned to the fact that she may have to fight Karza if the situation required her to do so, even if she didn’t like it one bit.

“Forget about Karza for now,” said Manti. “Kame will exorcise RF from him when he gets the chance. Remember, if anyone ends up in open combat with him, they must allow Kame to perform his duty!”

“Yes, sir!” Julie replied.

The researchers followed behind with their guns, well aware what with their weapons that the Village of the Exiled only discovered, they were going to stay in the Pele village and provide backup for the Teo warriors.

Soon they were out of the jungle and into a rather large green savanna somewhere inland. The clear area spread out for many acres, almost as far as the eye can see, but this is still a rather large island, so it’s natural. One the left, they could see the mountain—it really wasn’t much of a mountain, perhaps only the height of Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi with a couple bluffs about the quarter of the way up that were still accessible by foot.

On the right was the jungle, which still covered much of the island, and ahead of them, they could see the village of the Pele.

The trail continued through the grassland, which as they could see, had been well-worn into the field itself and ran straight to the Pele village. The savanna itself was not completely flat, as there were some rolling hills and little dips in the terrain. The village itself was in one of these little dips, but as they could see, also partially rested on one of the hills. The grass surrounding the village varied in height; closest to the village, it was short, while getting at least an American football field distance away, the grass was long enough for someone to hide in it.

It took ten minutes for the war band to reach the main village of the Pele. And it seemed that the Pele were expecting them, as evidenced by the Pele warriors who greeted them in front of the village gate.

A herald at the front of the Teo column blew into a conch shell and announced Chief Manti’s presence. After a delay of about a minute the gate to the village began to rise up, revealing the Pele warriors and a man wearing a blue-and-green ʻahu ʻula and mahiole, and a big smile.

“Chief Manti!” he said with a smile and a bow, which Manti greeted at an equal angle.

“How are you, Kawa?” Manti replied.

“I received your message,” said Kawa. “Are you sure about them?”

“We cannot be too careful,” Manti replied. “They already attacked Julie and possessed Karza. And the palemen have already given us valuable intelligence that they intend to attack. Their leader is a dangerous man, but he inhabits Karza’s body, so inform your warriors to be aware.”

“I understand,” said Kawa. “Your warriors are allowed to rest inside the village if they need to. We will provide nourishment for them as best we can, but we must keep some food for our villagers.

“I am perfectly fine with that,” said Manti. “Also, the palemen will need access to your guard ring so they can provide covering fire. Julie has told us that the Exiled are not familiar with their weapons.”

“And I also assume they blame us for their failures,” Kawa concluded.

“It is a conclusion that understandable, no matter what their actions may be,” said Manti. “I believe we should offer them amnesty, or ask them to leave this army, lest they want to face trial or death.”

“A good plan,” said Kawa. “But you brought your warriors with you, and here you talk of peace. Why is that?”

Manti turned around to face Julie, who was smiling, and he turned right back. “I believe, thanks to my palewoman friend, that one of the leaders of her people once said, ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick’. I intend to speak softly with my words of peace and forgiveness, and this—” he gestured to his warriors, “Is my big stick, my old friend.”

Kawa threw his head back and laughed. Not a derisive laughter at Manti, of course. “Well, then! In that case, I have my own big stick I intend to use!”

The fellow chiefs grasped each other’s arm, a symbol of their long-time friendship, and alliance.

The Teo warriors got what little rest they needed, refueling on fish and bacon jerky, water, and mangoes. Manti and Kawa drew up plans involving both of their armies, combining them into one force while having archers and the researchers stay on the upper ring of the wooden fence. They also evacuated as many people from the village as they could in whatever amount of time they had left.

The sound of a blowing conch shell meant time was up.

The warriors scrambled up from their seats and outside, gathering in front of the main gate. The researchers who’d come along also scrambled up to the watch ring of the village walls and waited in between the pointed tips of the wooden steaks making up the fence.

They could see a mass of people emerging from the tree line in the distance that fanned out. It almost made their numbers impossible to count. The archers on the upper ring drew back their arrows and the researchers pointed their rifles in the same direction.

The warriors, Julie, Tim, Manti and Kawa stood in front of the gate. Manti and Kawa stepped forward and walked into the middle of the grassland, where they stood and waited for their leaders.

RF, in Karza’s body, got the hint and, along with Phillip, left their army to meet Manti in the middle of the field.

Manti seethed upon seeing Karza’s body being used so horribly, but he could not do much about it. “What do you want?” he asked.

“What do YOU want?” Karza’s body asked.

“I want you to leave Karza’s body, you evil filth,” Manti said, his eyebrows furrowing and his voice dripping with venom. “I also want your army to lay down their arms and surrender. We will be merciful on them, and we will help them re-enter society.”

RF, in Karza’s body, threw his head back and laughed derisively. “Are you actually giving me orders?” he asked. “You are in no position to be giving—”

“We will give demands if we feel like it, filth,” Kawa interrupted. “You intend to attack our village, after all.”

“You talk pretty big,” said RF.

“So do you, and yet you have neither a trained army nor a real body,” said Manti.

“I have a massive army,” said RF.

“So?” Manti replied. “Am I supposed to be frightened?”

“Why are you being so merciful?” RF asked.

“I believe Manti used the term… ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick,” said Kawa, turning back to the army behind him. “We are speaking softly, but we are not afraid to wield a big stick.”

For the first time, Phillip saw RF grimace and seethe. Karza’s body pivoted on his right foot and stormed back to the front lines of his army. Manti and Kawa also both turned back to their army and returned.

It took minutes before the enemies began to move towards the village.

When Manti returned to his front lines, he shouted, “ _TARINGA WHAKARONGO! KIA RITE! KIA RITE! KIA MAU HIIII!!!_ ”

The warriors, Julie and Tim all knelt on their right leg at the commands of their chief. He shouted more instructions to them.

They began chanting, their eyes bulging and tongue sticking out. This was the Teo Tribe’s war haka; the equivalent of throwing down the gauntlet. They jumped from side to side, sometimes pounding the ground as if trying to cause the earth itself to shake. The haka is serious, not just culturally, but in terms of warfare.

“ _Whiti whiti!  
TOA!  
Whiti whiti  
TOA!_"

At this point they stood and the jumping actually began.

" _Ka eke i te wiwī  
Ka eke i te wawā  
Ka eke i te papārahua i Rangitumu  
Huia i Ka Eke i Ka Eke  
Wēku … Wēku  
Wēku Wēku mai te whiore hi  
Toa  
Ko roto koe taku puta…a  
He puta aha te puta…a  
He puta tohi te puta…a  
E rua nei ko te puta…a   
HIII!_”

In the distance, the enemies kept their slow pace, but slowly began to jog towards the Teo and Pele warriors. They could not see it from their distance, but they too wore warpaint; demonic war paint, meant to make them look far more dangerous than the Teo and Pele warriors. Their weapons, fashioned in nearly a week, were deadlier than the Pele and Teo’s weapons, like what Mad Max weapons would look like if Mad Max had Polynesian influences or something.

Man, there has got to be better analogies than that.

The Teo and Pele continued their haka to psych themselves up, pointing their weapons at the invaders. Kawa gestured and a number of Pele warriors armed with spears moved to the front, forming two lines protecting the main body of warriors.

“Let them get wedged in,” said Manti. “Then we will disperse and attack from the side.”

“Shall I?” Kawa asked.

“Do it,” Manti replied. Kawa turned, gesturing to a few warriors. A few of them broke from the main force and moved to the flanks.

“What the hell are we doing?” Tim asked as Julie dragged him away.

“We have more warriors in the village,” said Julie. “We already outnumber them.”

“Yeah, but—”

Several of those warriors emerged from the village and took the places of the departed warriors, who took cover in some of the thick grasses near the village. “Wouldn’t they have seen us by now?” Tim asked.

“Does it look like they even know a thing about tactics?” Julie replied.

The enemy warriors still had not broken into a full run, although they still needed their own energy. They spilled down the hill at the same brisk pace that gave the Teo and Pele warriors a good estimation of their force’s size, at least 5 to 10 rows deep and tens of meters across.

“ARCHERS! GUNSMEN!” Manti shouted, raising his arm. The archers and gunmen raised their weapons (even if the gunmen couldn’t understand a word he was saying, but that was irrelevant because of the archers’ actions). But Manti held his hand up. He wanted to wait until the time was right, at least until he got a good judge of the size of the enemy’s forces.

Behind him, his and Kawa’s warriors continued their haka, waving their clubs and spears at the enemy, making a throat-slitting gesture, and shouting at the top of their lungs.

“SHOOT THEM!” Manti shouted. Arrows flew and the researchers fired their guns. The cloud of arrows sailed through the air in an arch and came down, cutting down a number of Exiled warriors. And this was right after a few bullets struck them.

And they slowed down.

“Look at them!” Julie remarked. “It’s just like yesterday! They’re not ready! It’s like some right-wing militia fanatics going up against the US Army!”

“What the fuck are they doing?” Tim hissed.

“GOOOOOOO!!!!” RF in Karza’s body shouted. And now the enemy broke into a full run.

“SHOOT THEM AT WILL!” Manti shouted when he saw them breaking into a full run. More arrows and bullets flew, striking the enemies, bringing more of them down. But a few missed and did not break their formation.

The warriors in the front lowered their spears to point them at the oncoming tide. The other warriors in back readied their clubs and other weapons. The enemy army got closer and closer until they were upon the defenders, yelling like banshees and crashing into the wall of Teo and Pele warriors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I intended this to be the penultimate chapter, but you know the whole best-laid plans thing. Either way, I think it's an okay build-up to the final confrontation.
> 
> The lead-up to the battle was inspired by the charge of the Teutonic Knights/Battle on the Ice sequence from Sergei Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky". It's pure Soviet propaganda, but it's a hell of a treat to watch.


	10. The Battle on the Savanna

“What the fuck are they doing?” Tim hissed.

“GOOOOOOO!!!!” RF in Karza’s body shouted. And now the enemy broke into a full run.

“SHOOT THEM AT WILL!” Manti shouted when he saw them breaking into a full run. More arrows and bullets flew, striking the enemies, bringing more of them down. But a few missed and did not break their formation.

The warriors in the front lowered their spears to point them at the oncoming tide. The other warriors in back readied their clubs and other weapons. The enemy army got closer and closer until they were upon the defenders, yelling like banshees and crashing into the wall of Teo and Pele warriors, who opened a path for them.

The enemy drove their wedge right through, resisted on both sides by the Teo and Pele warriors. Weapons clashed and shouts and cries mixed together as RF’s forces drove deeper into the Teo and Pele wall. But the Teo and Pele resisted, pushing against the wave of enemies, chopping against spears and war clubs.

Both forces pushed against each other for several minutes, yet seemed like a long time in the heat of battle. The Teo and Pele began to get the upper hand, but more Exiled warriors pushed back against them, shoving them towards the walls of the village.

Both of the front lines mixed together as warriors went one-on-one, toe-to-toe and mano-a-mano with each other. Men fell where they stood, cut down by clubs, spears or other weapons. Some Exiled Villagers retreated, but were pushed back towards the Teo and Pele lines. Karza’s body led the charge, hacking at Teo and Pele warriors with savage glee, cutting Teo warriors down and mutilating them into almost unrecognizable pieces.

It made Julie’s blood boil.

“That bastard,” she growled with venom far more potent than a King Cobra’s dripping from her lips. “If that fucking sorcerer had a body I’d chop him to pieces.”

“Uh, you’re kinda scaring me,” Tim whimpered.

“Julie! Wait. For. The. Signal!” Manti’s first lieutenant Hilo said through gritted teeth.

“What’d he say?” Tim asked.

“We’re not going to attack until Manti gives us the signal,” Julie replied, gripping the hilt of her sword with white-knuckle fury.

“Really, you’re scary,” said Tim.

“You kind of are,” said Hilo, after Julie translated Tim’s words.

The mixing got deeper and deeper as Exiled warriors moved inwards. They could see the Teo and Pele warriors being pushed backwards towards the walls of the village from their vantage point, which only made them want to go in sooner, so it wasn’t just Julie. But Hilo held them back. His frustration mounted, in part because he wasn’t happy with having to hold them back when they should be disciplined warriors.

As the main line got closer to the village, they spread out, allowing the Exiled warriors to move deeper in, but then the Teo and Pele closed in around the wedge.

Manti nodded to his herald. The herald drew his conch shell and blew into it, the sound of which echoed through the small grassy lowland.

“That’s the signal!” Hilo said. He stood and shouted, “LET’S GOOOOO!” The other warriors, Julie and Tim stood, drew their weapons and charged the Exiled wedge while screaming—nay, ROARING—at the top of their lungs, their faces contorted in battle rage. The Exiled had no idea what hit them. The warriors crashed into the side of the Exiled wedge where they started pushing against them.

Julie drew her sword, kept her shield on her left arm and collided with an enemy. Her foe was surprised and shocked at first, being easily pushed back against the wedge of his comrades, but once Julie brought her sword down on him, he blocked her attack. But he could not stop the rage she felt at seeing how his leader was using the body of the man she loved, and she kept whacking away at him. And once she got in his face, she stuck her tongue out and made the same bulging eye face as her Teo comrades, scaring the man before plunged her sword into his chest.

She roared while she went primal and cut numerous enemies down with her blade. It’s likely that this is the first time a sword had ever been used in battle on Greystoke, which would understandably be confusing for anyone seeing this, but luckily for them, their clubs and other weapons were still strong and sturdy to stand up to the blade of a sword.

The other side, coming from the left, slammed into the Exiles’ column, and with their combined efforts, the side-to-side forces broke the Exiled column and now the battle descended into a man-to-man melee.

As this went on Hilo and Julie made a bee-line to the front lines, cutting enemies down left and right with Manti being the prime target.

“OOF!” Julie felt a blow to her side, knocking her to the ground and she was almost trampled in the melee. It was thanks to Hilo that she got back up on her feet, but someone crashed into her again.

It was the bald poacher, Phillip. And it was pretty obvious he wanted to get back at her for what she did to him.

“I’ve been waiting for this, you little half-naked jungle bitch,” he said, barely able to contain his shuddering anticipation at getting to kill her.

Though she had gone primal earlier, she calmed down. And Hilo patted her shoulder in encouragement. “Come and get me,” she said.

Phillip screamed and charged her, forcing a path in between numerous combatants until he collided with her, and nearly pushed her down. Had she not been in a tough and sturdy stance, she almost certainly would have. Now Julie’s a strong woman, but Phillip was physically stronger than her, and he made this pretty obvious as he pushed and pushed against her and all the grip in the world couldn’t keep her from sliding backwards.

It was like a gang fight. Both forces mixed and mingled in a deadly and bloody melee. Screeches, shouts and the sound of weapons clanging echoed, possibly for miles. Whether or not anyone heard the chaos was unknown, but this battle would almost certainly go down in the annals of Teo and Pele legend, solidifying Manti as one of the greatest chiefs in the long and distinguished history of Chiefs of the Teo.

If he could survive, that is.

Those worries were on his mind in the midst of this mayhem. He watched his fellow warriors and tribesmen fight and die against an enemy that had been manipulated by a huckster. Though they looked as though they were doing their best he knew that it must have pained them to do so. And he watched one who had that pained look lose his head.

And yes, he is tired and afraid.

He showed that when he sluggishly swung his club down at an enemy, but missed and the enemy kicked him in the side. The enemy raised their weapon above their head and swung it downwards, right at Manti’s bulging eyes until he moved out of the way, gained back his strength and smashed the poor bastard’s shoulder.

But the shoulder ain’t the head. And the enemy lunged for him, thrusting his spear at Manti’s frightened expression—

And Kawa jumped in at the right time, thrusting his spear into the man’s chest, burying it deeper and yanking it out. “You’re losing your edge, Manti,” said Kawa.

“Don’t mock me,” Manti snapped back.

“If it helps,” Kawa replied.

He turned around and could see Karza’s body glaring at Manti. He stood there motionless in the midst of the mayhem, not even noticing or caring about the fighting going on all around him. But Manti could see RF’s menacing smile and it burned deep into his very soul.

And when a ball of energy formed in Karza’s hand, Manti knew he was in trouble.

And the explosion that sent him flying and left him dazed but not concussed confirmed that.

Julie scrambled out of the melee, not out of cowardice, but strategy. And when Phillip followed, it worked. Getting into a ready stance, she put her shield in front of her and pushed back at Phillip when he rammed into her. She countered, thrusting her sword at him, nicking him on the arm and drawing blood.

He of course, saw red and lunged at her, knocking her to the ground and pinning her arms down. The face he gave her next sent shivers down her spine. It was pure predatory. “I’m gonna make you regret trying to kill me,” he said. He took his hand off her wrist and reached for her chest. Of course, with her wrist free, she grabbed his wrist and tried to push him off. “Don’t fight it, bitch. Take it like a—AH!”

Her bare foot had kicked him in the… well, you know.

“EW, EW, BALL SWEAT, BALL SWEAT!” she cried as she hopped around, wiping his ball sweat off her foot. It must have been gross for her, even if her foot was taped up.

Luckily, he was still down, holding his special part in agony. But he stood and his furious expression caught her attention, requiring her to put her dukes up. Phillip angrily roared and charged her until she threw a right jab to the jaw that stopped him dead in his tracks. She lunged at him and elbowed him right in the sternum, ran up to him and delivered another powerful punch—a Superman Punch—that made him stagger backwards.

He lunged at her again, but she did the same and tackled/speared him in the gut, knocking him to the ground. She got up. He got back up. She jumped, twisted her body in the air and,

RKO!

As Phillip tried to get up, Julie put her foot down on his head and shoved it into the dirt. “Touch me or threaten me like that again and you’ll be lucky it’s just your dick and balls I cut off,” she spat with venom 100 times more potent than a Black Widow’s dripping from her mouth. “In fact, you’re lucky all I did was kick them.”

Phillip bucked to knock her off him and then rolled away, got back up and lunged at her. She punched his jaw and when he fell in front of her, she kneed him in the gut. But he got his hands on her neck and squeezed, hard.

She could barely breathe. Phillip pushed her to the ground with that predatory look in his eyes back. He mouthed something again before Julie let go of his wrist and punched him in the chin. The blow forced him back and she lunged and speared him again, knocking him to the ground. There she raised her fist and socked him in the jaw over and over again until he got up, throwing her backwards and into some sort of primal stance.

And her sword was right next to her.

Phillip furiously stood and wiped the blood running down the corner of his lip, glaring at Julie as if he was thinking of some pretty nasty things to do to her. He roared and ran right towards her. She grabbed the sword and thrust it deep into his chest, and pulled out just as quickly before turning and running away from the dying poacher.

His expression confirmed it, but it pained Manti so much to be fighting the young man he helped raise and turned into a fine young man, or at least his body. That’s why he and Kawa had such difficulty in fighting the Jungle Dude’s body, even though they knew it was possessed by the spirit of a centuries-old evil sorcerer.

“Come ON!” RF taunted. “What’s the matter? Oh, I get it, you can’t fight me, because you wove me!”

“I did love Karza, you fiend!” Manti spat back. “He was like a son to me!”

“Well, in that case—” RF threw Karza’s head back and the next thing Manti knew, Karza himself was looking around, frightened and confused.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “What am I doing here?” That fear and confusion worsened when his body, as if acting on its own, attacked Manti and Kawa.

“That fiend!” Kawa growled. “WHAT DOES HE THINK HE’S DOING!?”

“He’s taunting us,” Manti growled. “Karza, fight it! The spirit possessing you is trying to force you to fight us!”

“WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE!?” Karza replied. He had a grip on his right arm, which still had a ball of energy in his hand, and he tried to either push it up or down.

Kame, who had stayed behind in the main Pele village, could see Karza struggling to keep his arm from attacking. He saw his chance. He promptly ran out of the village, right up to Karza and whacked him with some palm leaves. “BEGONE, EVIL SPIRIT!” he declared.

Karza’s body shook as if he was having some kind of epileptic seizure. While he helped Manti up from the ground, Kame watched and kept up his exorcism mantra. This kept going for several minutes, while Karza’s body writhed on the ground.

“Fight it, Karza!” Manti encouraged. “Help Kame exorcise the spirit!”

“I’M TRYING!” Karza shouted.

Karza’s body shuddered again and when he looked up, it did not look good. His face was filled with rage, and they realized that RF was back in control. “Trying to exorcise me again, huh?” he asked. “How pathetic, you can’t even do it right!”

“Keep trying, Kame,” Manti said.

“Oh, I will,” said Kame. Both Manti and Kawa got back up and restrained Karza’s body whilst Kame continued his exorcism chanting. They could tell RF was trying to resist just by how furious and sudden the movements of Karza’s body looked. Such a powerful sorcerer, or at least how the stories told, would not go down easily.

And when they felt a powerful pulse of energy throw them several feet away on either side, also knocking warriors on both sides to the ground, they knew that this was only a taste of whatever powers this being could unleash on them.

“So you want to exorcise me, huh?” RF asked. “I probably should’ve told you this, but I don’t particularly need this body or anyone else’s.”

Karza’s body shuddered again, as a blue cloud escaped from his mouth. Manti ran over to catch him, but watched as the blue form began to shift its shape until it took the form of a paleman wearing a loincloth like Karza wore. And yet, judging by his translucence, it was not a true “body”, but an apparition. But though he was a ghost, he looked so alive.

As if his very presence could be felt, the warriors and the Exiled—the ones who still stood, of course—stopped what they were doing to look at the spirit of the sorcerer RF. Suddenly and without warning, RF’s spirit arm reached into a Teo warrior’s chest, ripped a certain organ out, and held it to the sky to show his followers. The man’s blood dripped down and through his arm while he laughed and his followers cheered.

“I DON’T NEED A BODY!” he declared. “AT LEAST, NOT ANYMORE!” He turned back into a blue cloud and zipped around, flying through the bodies of Teo and Pele warriors, and soon up into the upper ring of the main Pele village where he passed through all the researchers. The battlefield was overcome by screams of agony and people weakening so much they fell to their knees and could barely stand.

As if he was being saved for last, the apparition passed through Manti’s body from behind. It felt like his very being was being attacked from the inside, and it was obvious that RF was trying to make him suffer as much as possible by lingering for a few moments until he emerged from his body, showing that sinister smile of his.

“So, how’d it feel?” RF asked. “Ah, don’t worry, it’s only temporary, buddy. You’ll get used to it.”

Someone jumped through his apparition, much to his annoyance, and crashed into Manti.

“Julie, what—”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to!” she said.

“Was that the best you could do?” RF asked as if he was merely annoyed, and not even close to being angry. “That was pathetic!”

“SHUT UP!” she replied. “It was worth a try.”

“Aren’t you that half-naked jungle girl Phillip was moaning about?” RF asked while pointing at Julie.

“So what if I’m half-naked, you got a problem with that?” she snapped. “Oh, no. KARZA!” She ran over to Kame, who was still holding onto the half-conscious jungle dude. “Is he alright?” She asked, her filled with both worry and relief.

“Being possessed took a lot out of him,” said Kame. “But as you can see, RF is gone now.”

“Oh, so that’s—Uh, oh.”

RF’s blue cloud flew towards her. She jumped out of the way and so did some other Teo and Pele warriors.

“Um, how are we going to fight _that_?” Julie asked, pointing at the cloudy apparition.

The answer came (well, not really) when another person jumped though the apparition and landed in front of Julie. But poor Tim looked pretty confused, especially now that he’d pissed RF off even further. “Uh, sorry I’m late?”

“Well, he tried,” said Julie. She looked around. A small lizard scurried across the now-quiet field, and the apparition stood on some grass. Several ideas popped in her head that sounded like good ideas on paper. But whether or not they’d actually work was a whole other story. Even the best ideas don’t always work when put into action, especially when you’re pretty much making shit up as you go along. Julie COULD just throw the lizard at the sorcerer and see if it did anything. But for all she knew, all it would do was kill a poor little innocent lizard whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That’s when Karza stirred, to her infinite relief, so much that she hugged him tightly, even though he complained he could barely breathe and she had to let go. “Sorry, sweetie,” she said. “Are you alright?”

“My head hurts,” he replied.

“Can you move?” Kame asked.

Karza answered that by raising his arm and sitting up.

“Kame, can you fight a spirit?” Julie asked.

“I am a shaman, as you palemen call it,” Kame replied. “What do you think I do, collect herbs all day and spout nonsense?”

“Touche,” she said.

Kame fearlessly stood to confront RF, who looked as though he was getting impatient. “Are you done yet?” RF asked. “I let you talk, why don’t you stop wasting my time?”

Kame’s response was to lift up his arms and begin chanting. For a moment RF watched in amusement, not even once considering what Kame may be doing. That is, until he shuddered and stumbled forward. His translucence began to fade, replaced by opaqueness. But it was a great strain on Kame, as he did his best to keep that opaqueness there.

“Well? DO SOMETHING!” Kame shouted.

Julie scrambled back to her feet, grabbing her sword and shield, and swung the sword at RF, which the sorcerer easily caught. But the blood trickled down his palms.

“This is not the first time I’ve done this,” Kame groaned. “But only to a spirit as powerful as this one!”

Julie ripped the sword away from RF’s hands, right as they regained their translucence. His pained expression was gone, replaced by anger. And he shoved his hand at Julie, aiming straight for her heart. Kame chanted again, and the hand passed right through Julie’s chest without so much as a drop of blood, but she felt the same chill in her spine everyone else felt. But when Kame shoved RF’s hand out of her body, the chill was gone.

“Kame!” Karza said as he tried to hold the shaman up, with both Manti and Kawa trying to do the same.

“How much do you have left, old friend?” Manti asked.

“For that fiend, however much I need,” said Kame. “And if I die, my apprentice must replace me.”

“Do we have to go over this?” Karza said to himself.

“Just in case,” Kame replied as he held his palm leaf up again and began chanting.

RF shuddered again and started to lose his opaqueness. Looking down, Julie could see that it was not his body that he was regaining, but dirt and grass climbing up into the apparition. It was an easier spell that Kame was using, as far as she could assume, because she could see that he wasn’t struggling as much. “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?” he called.

She instinctively rushed forward. Behind her, Karza stood back up and grabbed a spear as he stumbled to catch up, and that stumbling worked in his favor as he drove the spear into RF’s new dirt/clay body. And then Julie ran up and thrust her sword into the body’s chest.

“Kawa! The lizard!” Kame ordered, and Kawa grabbed the lizard without hesitation, throwing the little guy at Julie and Karza.

“I’ll get you!” RF cursed.

Julie did not have some snarky comeback, she just grabbed the lizard. As RF began to leave his body, she held it out to him. Kame chanted again, and RF’s spirit was pulled into the lizard as the body of dirt and clay crumbled without resistance.

“Is that it?” Julie asked. “No ‘I’ll get you and your little dog too’? Where’s the dying curse?”

The others ignored her as they scooped RF in the lizard body and placed him in a jar. Manti held the jar up and the surviving Teo and Pele warriors cheered victoriously.

Yep, it was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final battle! And, it ends in a matter of minutes. Whatever, I didn't want this to go on and on and on, and since they wanted to get it done ASAP, they had to make it quick.
> 
> Whatever, RF has been defeated! Hip, hip, HOORAY!


	11. The Aftermath and End

The Teo and the Pele were victorious. But it was not a glorious victory.

Scores of warriors lay on the field, either dead or wounded, joined by scores of fallen Exiles, whose only crimes—aside from the actual criminals—were following a madman who wanted power.

They would sing of this victory, but only how they stopped the madman from escaping the island and doing possible irreversible damage to the outside world. They would mourn their dead and the dead of the Exiles. They did not deserve this treatment, after all the suffering they had to go through. Perhaps the Gods would show them the kindness they didn’t get in life and let them live out eternity in the upper afterlife.

The battlefield was littered with bodies and the stench of death had already begun to settle in. Scavengers were drawn to this soon-to-be sacred location to pick on flesh of the dead, or at least the ones who were not picked up by Teo and Pele tribesmen immediately following the battle. The ones the scavengers did get to had to be reclaimed from the hungry scavengers so as they could receive the proper funerals and not suffer further humiliation as to being picked apart by these scavengers.

The exception, of course, being the poacher Phillip, whom everyone rightfully believed, even just looking at him, that he was a complete and utter bastard. He’d encroached and poached on nature, and so he must return to nature in the most humiliating way his dead body and soul could receive. No one bothered to chase away the buzzards that were already picking at him.

The clean-up took several hands of time to complete. The wounded were carried away first to be treated, both by the medicine men, and the palemen doctors, who came with the researchers. Some of them moaned in their death throes, others moaned because they were in pain. But they did let the medicine men and doctors tend to them, even though there were far more wounded than doctors.

The dead were simply picked up and placed on carts to be taken away for cremation or burying. They would get first-class funerals celebrating their lives.

Julie hadn’t seen such a sad aftermath of a victory in her entire life. Most of the time, victories were celebratory occasions, with a lot of partying, cheering and taunting the opponent. Then again, most of the victories she had been a part of were sports victories. This wasn’t sport, this is war. And NOBODY wins in a war, especially when nobody should have fought that war in the first place.

But she did also remember the term “pyrrhic victory”, and it was pretty much agreeable that this may have been the case right here.

And Gina seemed to concur, what with the way she looked around at the remains of the carnage, shaking her head and watching one of the doctors tend to a wound Julie received without knowing it, and ignored because of the flowing adrenaline. “Wow,” she said. “This is…”

“Hard,” Julie replied.

The both of them had to acknowledge their middle-class Western privilege, in this sort of event. The closest people from say, Auckland or Palo Alto can get to this kind of brutal warfare is watching _Gladiator_ or _Black Hawk Down_.

Or maybe they could just do what one of Julie’s professors did and take them to the streets of certain Oakland neighborhoods where this kind of violence happens way too fucking often, only with guns and gang wars, not because of the spirit of some sorta-fascist-ish evil sorcerer manipulating the wretched of the island into following him.

She winced when the doctor sewed her up. “Take it easy, Julie!” said Gina.

“Sorry,” Julie replied.

“I’m just glad things worked out,” said Gina. A glance over to Manti, Kawa, Kame and Karza kinda made that a little moot, and just looking at them she could tell they were pretty unhappy about what just happened.

She wanted to know what they were talking about, and theoretically she could, since there’s no misogynistic bro-code or something that would make them want to kick her out. No, she could listen in on their conversation any time she wanted, and she’d done it long before. Like when she told Karza she wanted to stay on the island with him, and he had a long discussion about it with the two men Julie quipped were like his gay dads.

No, it looked like they just needed to be alone for a few minutes.

“Why do you keep causing trouble?” Gina asked. “Actually, I think trouble tends to find you.”

“I wish I could say,” Julie replied. The Jungle Girl flopped backwards onto the dirt, splaying out her arms and legs in a bunch of directions that, don’t worry, were still the correct ways arms and legs can go. “What’s next? Some Indiana Jones cult pops up on this island? Or I have to deal with dumb militia bastards who idolize me as some white goddess teaching the savages how to live, even though it’s the other way around and I’m not a fucking goddess? Or maybe I just have to deal with some ecological satire shit and bash some corrupt CEO’s brains in. Or better yet, fucking neo-Romans!”

“Do you wanna go back to Palo Alto?”

“Fuck no.”

“Right… Neo-Romans?”

“What? We have witches on this island, don’t be surprised!”

“Julie!”

Karza walked up to them, sat down and examined Julie’s stitches. “Manti and Kame want to destroy the ruins.”

“After all that?” Julie groaned.

“Yeah,” said Karza. “Manti felt it was more trouble that it was worth to keep them standing, since he’s afraid RF could come back.”

“But that freak’s a lizard now,” she said. “And besides, those things need to be studied. Just imagine what we could learn from it! Like how all these animals got here, or why the civilization died out!”

“But Julie—”

“No ‘buts’, sweetie,” she interrupted. “RF’s a lizard now, what power does he have?”

“Julie…” Karza sighed. “You are so stubborn.”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” she said.

But it was obvious to anyone watching, Gina especially, that this conversation was going nowhere. This was probably one of those times where their respective headstrong personalities clashed, which would only lead to a lot of trouble. It was probably for the best when Gina said, “Let us study the ruins, and then you can destroy it.”

The Jungle Couple looked at each other and Julie nodded. “Fine,” said Karza.

“We will be taking things, though,” said Gina. “And I can’t guarantee we’ll be done in a week. In fact, we’ll have to bring in some archaeologists.”

A sigh escaped Karza’s lips as he ran his hand through his unkempt hair. “I’ll run it by Manti and Kame,” he said, getting up to walk over to Manti and Kame.

“You didn’t have to do that,” said Julie.

“The both of you are headstrong and stubborn,” said Gina. “And until you both work it out, I had to do something.”

“Fine,” said Julie.

Just moments later, Karza returned. “They agree,” he said. “But your archaeologists have a month.”

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The new archaeologists came in the next day and immediately got to work on the two sites. To ensure their safety, Kame kept a charm on the jar that contained RF’s new lizard body to keep him from escaping and tormenting the island again. It apparently worked because RF’s lizard body watched angrily while the archaeologists worked on the ruins.

Most of the work was surveying the site, mapping it and getting rid of any of the moss that had grown over the centuries. Removing artifacts from the site would come later, although with the quick schedule, they had to take care of that as soon as possible. The Teo ordering that the ruins be destroyed kinda put things in the fast lane, which didn’t help the archaeologists one bit.

Still, it was probably better than watching them go up in flames. But just in case, the researchers did offer their demolitions explosives for the cause, which would be a lot better than letting the Teo burn the place and start an all-consuming wildfire, or at least that’s the fear. The Teo aren’t a bunch of cavemen who have no idea how to use fire. Quite the opposite in fact, and one of their most popular gods to worship is their Fire Goddess, who was similar to, but nothing exactly like the Hawaiian goddess Pele (she didn’t even have the same name as the Hawaiian goddess).

But unfortunately, no one was satisfied, and it felt like a cop-out instead of some decent ending to a bad pulp novel. At least, that’s how Julie felt, since she wanted Karza to learn his lesson about curses—they only work if you believe them, and it turned out that some sorcerer’s spirit was inhabiting the ruins. That’s not a curse, that’s a haunting.

“Karza,” she said.

“Yes?” he asked.

“I still think you need to rethink curses,” she said.

Since it came right the fuck outta nowhere, the Jungle Dude was confused, to say the least. He didn’t say much as he turned his head towards her, but she kept the stern expression that told him she wasn’t backing down from this.

“After everything that happened?” he asked.

“That’s not a curse,” she said. “That’s a haunting.”

“But still—”

“Karza,” she interrupted, gently and lovingly stroking his cheek. “You faced your fear of the ruins. You should be proud of yourself.”

He could see that pride in her wide eyes. Those eyes were not Michele Bachmann wide, but wide enough that they looked constantly happy instead of weird like Bachmann’s. It was also balanced out by a subtle chestnut shape, probably the only indication of the little bit of Native American heritage that she had, too, coming from the last bits of heritage from the last remnants of the tribes native to the Bay Area. Sadly, there aren’t very many.

“Thanks,” he said as he kissed her forehead, not needed to bend down much. “Still think we should give you a new name.”

She laughed, but not derisively. “Why don’t we hold off on that for now?” she asked. “Although, I don’t like Juju, that just doesn’t sound right. ‘Juju the Jungle Girl’? Come on.”

Karza didn’t have an answer for that, so he scoffed like he was unimpressed, fully aware that Julie wasn’t going to fall for it one bit.

“By the way, what about the survivors of RF’s army?” Julie asked.

“That was part of the discussion a couple days ago,” said Karza. “Manti and Kawa want to reintegrate the non-criminals back into their respective societies. Some of the villagers did not join RF, and have refused to return, so the ones who want to will be given help.”

“You know what?” Julie asked. “That’s… actually good to hear.”

“Yeah, Manti said he felt guilty about how the Exiled blamed him and Kawa for their problems,” said Karza. “He’ll have to tell them it’s not their fault they joined RF, but that they shouldn’t have a scapegoat.”

Sometimes it’s a confluence of reasons as to why people fail, Julie remembered her professor talking about. Sometimes it’s because of reasons outside their control, and sometimes it’s because they made all the wrong decisions in life. She never really questioned the whole turning-into-a-jungle-girl thing because she didn’t regret it one bit. What’s there to question when you don’t have any regrets about your chosen path in life?

But following some dictator because he makes false promises is just asking for trouble. At some point, you’ve gotta take responsibility for yourself, and that’s both a conservative and liberal belief, although it’s also a good idea to help those who need it,

“By the way, what about Tim?” she asked. “I think the researchers were—‘

“I’m sorry I’m late!” the man in question called when he ran up to the Jungle Couple, dressed in Teo clothing and sporting a temporary tat with the same design as the one Karza had on his right arm, and by extension, many Teo tribesmen wore.

“Tim, what—what’s going on?” Julie asked.

“Sorry!” Tim said, doubled over but smiling and saluting. “The craziest thing happened; when I woke up, I found out I could speak the Teo language!”

The Jungle Couple exchanged confused and curious glances, but Julie’s was worse. “Um, what?” she asked.

“Yeah, I know, crazy, right?” Tim replied. “I guess I should’ve told you earlier, right?”

“But, how can—”

“Julie!” Karza laughed. “We just saw the spirt of an evil sorcerer possess two people and a whole lot of other shit, and the thing you can’t believe is that Tim can speak a new language!?”

“But, but—oh, forget it! So what now, Tim?”

“Well, I want to join the Teo!” Tim replied happily.

“… Excuse me?”

“I talked to Manti and Gina. They like the idea and want me to be a translator-slash-ambassador-slash liaison between the researches and the tribe, so I’ll be kind of a technical tribesman, and they haven’t officially accepted me yet, but I can’t wait to start!”

“I need a fuckin’ drink,” Julie muttered.

“Oh, and the researchers are helping the Teo build a new village,” said Tim.

“ARE helping?” Julie asked.

“They already started,” said Tim.

“I need to sit down,” said Julie.

“Let’s just go back to the treehouse,” said Karza.

And so they departed for the treehouse.

**Author's Note:**

> An adventure in the gripping tale of Julie the Jungle Girl! Okay, not really, this prologue focuses more on her boyfriend, Karza, when he was younger and establishing himself as a Jungle Dude. It's basically just a prologue. I want to incorporate bits and pieces of Polynesian mythology into the story, so I'll be sure to do my research into it.
> 
> Also, I don't believe in curses, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to use them in fiction. They make for good fiction, after all.


End file.
